Decline Fall Sasanian Empire

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Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire

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Parvaneh Pourshariati is Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University. She is the author of many scholarly articles on ancient Iran.

‘This is a monumental work of ﬁrst-class scholarship. Its publication represents a landmark, and it immediately becomes the point of departure for further work on the many subjects it deals with. I can think of few other books I have read over the years that can match this work’s astounding combination of originality, bold vision, clarity of presentation, meticulous examination of the sources, and practical puzzle-solving. I learned immensely from reading it. Dr. Pourshariati’s book is in my view one of the most important individual contributions to our understanding of the history of Iran since Christensen’s L’Iran sous les Sassanides, published seventy years ago. Especially remarkable is the breadth of the author’s agenda, and the way in which she has convincingly woven together different strands. These include: the political rivalry of the great families, the Sasanians’ collapse before Byzantine and Muslim attacks, the religious diversity of medieval Iran, questions of historiography, the substance of the Iranian popular epic, and the important details to be gleaned from seals and other documents. Any one of these would be (and for many scholars has been) a subject for full immersion for many years, but Pourshariati has integrated each into a complex and meaningful whole, even as she has made signal contributions to the more detailed study of each one.’ Fred M. Donner, Professor of Near Eastern History, University of Chicago

‘A fundamental reappraisal of a major issue in Near Eastern history, and a book that will be referred to whenever the subject is discussed, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire is the most important re-examination of late Sasanian and early Islamic history since the work of Christensen in the 1940s.’ Hugh N. Kennedy, Professor of Arabic, SOAS, University of London

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‘Both impressive and intellectually exciting, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire is a major, even pathbreaking, work in the ﬁeld—a ﬁeld which this book should revolutionize.’ Stephen Dale, Professor of History, Ohio State University

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‘Dr. Pourshariati’s book proposes a reinterpretation of the structure of the Sasanian Empire and of the power struggle that followed the end of the Byzantine–Persian War of 602–628. The author argues that throughout most of its history the Sasanian state was a confederative structure, in which the north and east (the old Parthian territories of Media and Khurasan) were highly autonomous both politically and culturally. It was Khusraw II’s (590–628) disastrous effort to centralize the state that led to its collapse and to the Arab Conquests. Dr. Pourshariati also argues for a signiﬁcant redating of critical moments in the Arab conquests in Iraq. Taken as a whole, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire is original, innovative, bold, and generally persuasive.’ Stephen Humphreys, Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern History, University of California, Santa Barbara

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Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian–Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran

Parvaneh Pourshariati

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Published by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation

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Published in 2008 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010 www.ibtauris.com

In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010

Copyright © 2008 Parvaneh Pourshariati Layout: Hans Schoutens

The right of Parvaneh Pourshariati to be identiﬁed as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978 1 84511 645 3

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall From camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author

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In loving memory of my father: Houshang Pourshariati (1934–2004)

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Contents

Note on transliteration and citation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction The problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sources and methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Preliminaries 1.1 The Arsacids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Agnatic families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

xi xiii 1 6 10 19 19 27

I
2

Political History
Sasanian polity revisited: the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy 2.1 Sasanians / Arsacids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 Christensen’s thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Dynasticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Early Sasanian period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Yazdgird I, Bahr¯m V G¯r, and Yazdgird II / the S¯rens . a u u 2.2.1 Mihr Narseh S¯ren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . u 2.2.2 Yazdgird I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Bahr¯m V G¯r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a u 2.2.4 Yazdgird II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 P¯ uz / the Mihr¯ns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ır¯ a 2.3.1 ¯ Izad Gushnasp Mihr¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2.3.2 Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a u a 2.4 Bil¯sh and Qub¯d / the K¯rins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a a 2.4.1 Bil¯sh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2.4.2 Sukhr¯ K¯rin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a 2.4.3 Qub¯d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a vii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31
33 37 47 53 56 59 60 65 67 70 70 71 74 75 75 76 78

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C ONTENTS 2.4.4 Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ Mihr¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a u a ı a 2.4.5 Mazdakite uprising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an / the Mihr¯ns, the Ispahbudh¯n, and ırv¯ a a the K¯rins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2.5.1 Khusrow I’s reforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.2 Interlude: Letter of Tansar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.3 The four generals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.4 The Mihr¯ns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2.5.5 The Ispahbudh¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2.5.6 The K¯rins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a Hormozd IV / the Mihr¯ns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2.6.1 Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a ¯ 2.6.2 S¯ ah-i Burz¯ K¯rin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ım¯ ın a 2.6.3 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Mihr¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a u ın a Khusrow II Parv¯ / the Ispahbudh¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ız a 2.7.1 Vist¯hm Ispahbudh¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a 2.7.2 Smbat Bagratuni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7.3 The last great war of antiquity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7.4 Shahrvar¯z Mihr¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a 2.7.5 Farrukh Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . a 2.7.6 Khusrow II’s deposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 82 83 83 85 94 101 104 112 118 119 120 122 130 131 136 140 142 146 153 161 161 164 166 173 173 178 179 183 186 190 204 207 214 219 224 236 240 249 253

2.5

2.6

2.7

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The Arab conquest of Iran 3.1 Question of sources: the fut¯h and Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traditions u. a a 3.1.1 Fut¯h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . u. 3.1.2 Revisiting Sayf’s dating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d and Ardash¯ III: the three armies . . . . . . ır¯ a ır 3.2.1 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ır¯ a 3.2.2 Ardash¯ III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ır 3.2.3 Shahrvar¯z’s insurgency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 3.3 B¯r¯ndukht and Azarm¯ ua ıdukht: the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav rivalry . . 3.3.1 The Ispahbudh¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 3.3.2 Analepsis: Arab conquest of Iraq . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3 Azarm¯ ıdukht and the P¯rs¯ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a ıg 3.3.4 B¯r¯ndukht and the Pahlav . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ua 3.3.5 The battle of Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Yazdgird III: Arab conquest of Iran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 The conquest of Ctesiphon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 The conquest of Khuzist¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 3.4.3 The conquest of Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.4 The conquest of Rayy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.5 The conquest of Gurg¯n and Tabarist¯n . . . . . . . a a .

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C ONTENTS 3.4.6 3.4.7 The mutiny of Farrukhz¯d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a The conquest of Khur¯s¯n and the mutiny of the Kan¯aa a rang¯ an . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ıy¯ 3.4.8 The conquest of Azarb¯yj¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a Epilogue: repercussions for early Islamic history . . . . . . . . 260 265 278 281 287 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 288 289 294 298 298 301 302 303 304 308 310 314 314 315 316

3.5 4

Dynastic polities of Tabarist¯n a . ¯ B¯vand . . . . . . 4.1 The Al-i a 4.1.1 Kay¯s . . . . . . . . u 4.1.2 B¯v . . . . . . . . . a 4.2 The K¯rins in Tabarist¯n . . a a . ¯ 4.3 The Al-i J¯m¯sp . . . . . . . a a

4.4

4.5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 J¯m¯sp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a 4.3.2 P¯ uz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ır¯ 4.3.3 J¯ J¯ ansh¯h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ıl-i ıl¯ a The Arab conquest of Tabarist¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a . 4.4.1 Peace treaty with Farrukhz¯d and J¯ J¯ ansh¯h . . . a ıl-i ıl¯ a 4.4.2 Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg Dhu ’l-Man¯qib . . . . . . . . . a a 4.4.3 Yaz¯ b. Muhallab’s unsuccessful conquest of 716–718 ıd Khursh¯ Sh¯h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ıd a 4.5.1 The sp¯hbed K¯rin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a a 4.5.2 Sunb¯d’s murder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a 4.5.3 Khursh¯ death and the ﬁnal conquest of Tabarist¯n ıd’s a .

II
5

Religious Currents

319

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Sasanian religious landscape 321 5.1 Post-Avestan period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 5.2 Orthodoxy – Heterodoxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 5.2.1 Two pillars: the monarchy and the clergy? . . . . . . . 324 5.2.2 Kird¯ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 ır ¯ 5.2.3 Aturp¯t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 a 5.2.4 Zurvanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339 5.2.5 Zand¯ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341 ıks 5.2.6 Circle of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 5.2.7 Mazdakite heresy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 5.2.8 Jewish and Christian communities . . . . . . . . . . . 347 5.3 Mihr worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350 5.3.1 Mithra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 5.3.2 Mihr worship in the Achaemenid and the Arsacid periods 358 5.3.3 The P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav religious dichotomy . . . . . . . . . 360

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C ONTENTS 5.4 Mihr worship in the quarters of the north and east 5.4.1 Mihr worship in Tabarist¯n . . . . . . . . a . 5.4.2 Mihr worship among the Mihr¯n . . . . . a 5.4.3 Mihr worship among the K¯rin . . . . . . a 5.4.4 Mihr worship in Armenia . . . . . . . . . Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 369 378 379 386 392

5.5 6

Revolts of late antiquity in Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n aa a 397 . 6.1 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 a u ın 6.1.1 Mithraic purview of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion . . . 398 a u ın’s 6.1.2 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and the apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . 404 a u ın 6.2 The Abb¯sid revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 a 6.2.1 Inner–Outer Khur¯s¯n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 aa 6.2.2 Post-conquest Iran and contemporary scholarship . . . 420 6.3 Bih¯far¯ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 a ıd 6.3.1 Interlude: Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 a ıa a 6.3.2 Mithraic purview of Bih¯far¯ rebellion . . . . . . . . 432 a ıd’s 6.4 Sunb¯d the Sun Worshipper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 a 6.4.1 Sunb¯d and Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ recurrent narrative motifs 441 a a u ın: 6.4.2 Mithraic purview of Sunb¯d’s rebellion . . . . . . . . . 442 a 6.4.3 Sunb¯d and the apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 a 6.4.4 Gentilitial background of Sunb¯d . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 a 6.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 453 467 467 468 469 470 471 472

Conclusion Tables, ﬁgures and map Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conquest of Iraq . . . . . . Conquest of Iran . . . . . . Seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . Genealogical tree . . . . . . Map of the Sasanian empire

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Glossary Index

499 509

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Bibliography

473

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Note on transliteration and citation

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As this book deals with sources from many languages, it has been virtually impossible to be consistent in nomenclature. In general, we adopted the following ranking of languages in descending order of priority in our transliteration of foreign words: English, New Persian, Middle Persian, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Avestan. A name or a term is then rendered in the ﬁrst of these languages in which it is well attested. For instance, the third Achaemenid king in these languages is respectively Darius, D¯ry¯sh, D¯r¯, D¯r¯b, Dara, Dareios, a u aa aa D¯raiiauuauš. Since the ﬁrst, English, form is already in common use, we rena der his name as Darius. Likewise, although Middle Persian sp¯hbed can be a translated in English as general, or rendered in New Persian as ispahbud, we have opted to keep its Middle Persian rendition in order to remain as true to its intended meaning as possible. Similarly, we will use New Persian N¯sh¯p¯r, ı a u rather than Nishapur (English), N¯w-Sh¯buhr (Middle Persian), or N¯s¯b¯r (Arae a ıa u bic). These examples also underline another issue: names of places or ofﬁces may have changed over time, and so we will use the name that was prevalent at the period in question. Hence in the case of N¯sh¯p¯r, the older name Abarshahr ı a u is not used when discussing events in later Sasanian times. Similarly, instead of modern Istanbul, Roman Byzantium, or late Roman Augusta Antonina, we will refer to the capital of the Byzantine empire during the Sasanian period by its ofﬁcial East-Roman name, Constantinople. The context and/or the intended meaning will also determine our adoption of a particular transliteration. We shall, therefore, use Armenian Mirranes instead of New Persian Mihr¯n, for the commander of Petra under Khusrow I; a and we shall use Middle Persian k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n, rather than its New Persian u a a a form k¯st-i Azarb¯yj¯n, for the quarter of the north. Likewise, to refer to the u a a deity that plays a germane role in this work, the New Persian form Mihr, or on occasion the older form Mithra, derived from Avestan Miθra, is used in the Iranian context, whereas the English form Mithras is reserved for the Roman context (Roman Mithraism). In the index and the glossary, an attempt is made to provide cross-references to the most commonly attested forms. In working with many different sources, the language as well as the script can cause problems. For scripts other than Arabic (like Aramaic, Pahlavi,

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T RANSLITERATION AND CITATION Armenian, Avestan, or Greek), we have followed the conventions of the translated source. To transliterate Arabic into Latin script, we have more or less followed the transliteration scheme used by the Encyclopaedia of Islam. As we had to deal with both Persian and Arabic sources, we felt that following the Encyclopaedia of Islam rather than the Encyclopaedia Iranica would yield a more consistent scheme. We have, however, simpliﬁed this system for the four letters , , , and , which we transliterate kh, zh, ch, and sh instead of the respective underlined forms kh, zh, ch, and sh. Thus we write Kheshm instead of Kheshm or Xešm. An additional complication of transliterating Arabic script is vowelization.1 This is reﬂected, for instance, in the name of the Iranian general Hurmuz¯n. As his name is only attested in Arabic sources, we have maintained a the Arabic transliteration, although its Persian form would have been Hormoz¯n, derived from Persian Hormozd. We also opted to render Persian id¯fih as a .a -i, and New Persian ﬁnal as ih instead of e or eh. Works are cited following the Harvard style (author plus year of publication),2 except for the ﬁrst citation, which is given in full.3 Articles in the Encyclopaedia Iranica and the Encyclopaedia of Islam are now readily available online. As we have availed ourselves of the online versions, our references to these may no longer have page numbers. We have dated each online article without a page reference to the present, that is to say, to 2007.4 For the beneﬁt of the nonArabic speaking reader, we have cited Tabar¯ history, which is used extensively ı’s . in this study, both in English (published in the series The History of Tabar¯) and ı . in Arabic (de Goeje’s edition). For example, the citation Tabar¯ 1999, p. 295, ı . de Goeje, 988, means: page 295 in The S¯s¯n¯ds, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, aa ı and Yemen, and page 988 in de Goeje’s edition. Furthermore, for the beneﬁt of the Persian speaking reader, many citations of non-English sources are followed by a citation to its Persian translation, whenever such a translation is available. As Khaleghi Motlagh’s last volume of his critical edition of the Sh¯hn¯ma has a a not yet been published, we had, unfortunately, only recourse to less critical editions. We ultimately opted for two, the Naﬁsi and Moscow editions, and where possible, we have cited both.
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1 This mainly applies to the short vowels a, e, i, o, u, but even ð 9 when denoting a vowel, can be rendered as ¯ or u depending on the word. The vocalization ¯ is only used in Middle Persian or o ¯ e other older languages and never represents ø 9. 2 In case there is no author, an alternative key is provided. All dates are converted to the CE calendar. 3 E.g., the ﬁrst citation would be: Tabar¯ The S¯s¯n¯ds, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen, ı, aa ı . vol. V of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1999, translated and annotated by C.E. Bosworth (Tabar¯ ı ı . . 1999); with any subsequent citation to this work given by the form between parenthesis. 4 The same rule applies to papers that have not yet been published.

xii

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Acknowledgments

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The acknowledgments of any book are my personal favorite. For they bear testimony not only to what sustains the solitary works of scholarship, but also to the debt that such endeavors carry. In lieu of acknowledgments, one could very well write a contextual social and psychoanalytic analysis of the stimuli that have sustained any piece of scholarship. And so it is with much regret that the author is following the trends in the ﬁeld and is giving a short synopsis. This work would not have been possible without the support that the author has received through the years leading to the present study: Iraj Afshar, Peter Awn, Michael L. Bates, Kathryn Babayan, Elton L. Daniel, Fred M. Donner, Touraj Daryaee, Dick Davis, Rika Gyselen, Stephen Humphreys, Manuchehr Kasheff, Hugh N. Kennedy, Christian Maetzener, Jalal Matini, Robert D. McChesney, Sam A. Meier, Julie S. Meisami, Charles Melville, Margaret Mills, Michael G. Morony, James Russell, Pari Shirazi, Zeev Rubin, Sabra Webber, and Ehsan Yarshater, each bear a sustaining responsibility for a juncture of this journey. To Richard W. Bulliet, my promoter in the course of my graduate studies, I owe my initial training in historical enquiry. For this, I shall remain indebted to him. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my colleagues in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the Ohio State University, to the AAUW, SSRC, and the Department of Women’s Studies at OSU for their support, giving a special thanks to my colleague Joseph Zeidan for lending me his support when I was in dire need of it. To our chief librarians, Dona Straley and Patrick Visel, I owe a debt of gratitude for always coming to my rescue with charm and caring. I would also like to acknowledge the kindness and support ¯ a of the staff at the Ast¯n-i Quds-i Radav¯ and the Bibliothèque Nationale for . ı accommodating me during my research visits to those libraries. There are a few friends and colleagues who travel with you throughout the unsettling world that has become the academe, especially if you are a female of the species. My dear friends Sussan Babaie, Ariana Barkeshli, Habib and Maryam Borjian, Marina Gaillard, Jane Hathaway, Tameron Keyes, Larry Potter, Nader Sohrabi, Rosemary Stanﬁeld–Johnston, Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, and Faramarz Vaziri are among these. I remain indebted to Jane Hathaway for volunteering the truly Rustamian job of editing a ﬁrst draft of this manuscript,

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and to Rosemary Stanﬁeld–Johnston, who read and edited a second version of two chapters of this work. My dear colleague, Stephen Dale, was one of the ﬁrst not only to read the initial draft of a manuscript that had been submitted to him in trepidation, but also to support it subsequently. I am extremely grateful to him. The support of Fred M. Donner and Hugh Kennedy, who have also read a ﬁrst draft of the present book, has been invaluable. For any infelicity, the author bears the sole responsibility. One of my greatest fans throughout this journey has been my very good friend and colleague, Asef Kholdani. Through many years of uncertainty in the course of this study, his support has been unrelenting. Hours of stimulating telephone conversations with Asef ﬁlled my void in the twilight zone of late antique Iranian studies. A handful of momentous inﬂuences affect the lives of each of us. Had it not been for my cherished friend Mamad Shirazi, I would probably not have considered an academic career when the Iranian revolution metamorphosed the lives of many. His friendship through the past three decades has been the hallmark of my intellectual and emotional life. There are those who catapult you in life and those who sustain you through it. This work would, literally, have not been in front of you had it not been for the loving support of my husband, partner, and soul mate Hans Schoutens, my pillar in all of this. It is he who bears responsibility, among other things, for the meticulous index, glossary, and charts, and the whole layout and format of this manuscript. I would not have been here without him. To I.B.Tauris, Iradj Bagherzade, and Alex Wright, I extend my sincere gratitude for seeing a work of this magnitude, quantitatively, through production, in a publishing atmosphere where pre-modern Iranian studies is not given the attention it deserves and needs. Besides my husband, a secondary dedication of this work is to Farhad, Shapoor, Shirin, Mallika, Kate, Taji, Soheila, Bahar, and Minou Pourshariati, Shahriyar Zargham, and the rest of my family. My adoptive family, the Schoutens, but most of all my adoptive mother and father, the late Josephine Van Passel-Schoutens, and Louis Schoutens, know full well the contribution that they have made to this study. My primary debt, however, is reﬂected in the dedicatory page of the present study. Had it not been for the inspiration of my father, Houshang Pourshariati, the ideals that he cherished, the life he led, and the mark that he left on me, I would not have embarked on a journey that has now been more than four decades in the making. It is on account of the turn of the wheels that he is not here to see this. He is sorely missed. Above all, none of this would have been possible had it not been for my mother, Iran Pourshariati, whose nurturing sustained all else in order to make this contribution what it is.

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xiv

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Introduction

Iran the late antique, early medieval period (circa T he )history ofone ofinthe least investigated ﬁelds of enquiry in recent500–750 remains scholarCE

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5 There is no consensus among scholars as to when, precisely, one must date the end of the Roman and the beginning of the Byzantine empire. Dates varying from the early fourth to the early seventh century have been proposed. 6 A district near present-day Istanbul (the former Byzantine capital, Constantinople), called Kadiköy, Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town in the Roman province of Bithynia. 7 Sebeos, The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos, Liverpool University Press, 1999, translated with notes by Robert Thomson, Historical Commentary by James Howard–Johnston with assistance from Tim Greenwood (Sebeos 1999), part I, pp. 78–79 and part II, p. 212. 8 Sebeos 1999, p. xxiv.

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ship. This, in spite of the fact that some of the most crucial social and political processes transpiring during this period in what Hodgson has termed the Nile to Oxus cultural zone, directly implicate Iranian history. The “last great war of antiquity” of 603–628 CE, between the two great empires of the Near East, the Byzantines (330?–1453 CE)5 and the Sasanians (224–651 CE), was on the verge of drastically redrawing the map of the world of late antiquity. For almost two decades during this period, the Sasanian empire was successful in re-establishing the boundaries of the Achaemenid (559–330 BCE) empire at the height of its successful campaigns against the Byzantines. As Sebeos’ account bears witness, when in 615 the Persians reached Chalcedon,6 the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610–641) was about ready to become a client of the Sasanian emperor Khusrow II (591–628).7 When, in 622, a small, obscure, religio-political community in Mecca is said to have embarked on an emigration (hijra) to Medina—an emigration that in subsequent decades came to be perceived as the watershed for the birth of a new community, the Muslim umma—the Sasanians were poised for world dominion. Unexpectedly, however, the tides turned. For in the wake of what has been termed “one of the most astonishing reversals of fortune in the annals of war,”8 and after the ultimate defeat of the Sasanians in the last crucial years of the war (621–628 CE)—itself a tremendously perplexing question—a sociopolitical upheaval unprecedented in the world of late antiquity began: the Arab conquest of the Near East. While the event truncated Byzantium beyond recognition by the 640s, its consequences were even more dire for the Sasanians. For with the

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I NTRODUCTION death of the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III (632–651), in the aftermath of the Arab conquest of Iran, came the end of more than a millennium of Iranian rule in substantial sections of the Near East. The Sasanian empire was toppled and swallowed up by the Arab armies. What had happened? Why was an empire that was poised for the dominion of the Near East in 620, when successfully engaging the powerful Byzantines, utterly defeated by 650 by the forces of a people hitherto under its suzerainty, the Arab armies? This work is an attempt to make sense of this crucial juncture of Iranian and Middle Eastern history. It will seek to explain the success of the Arab conquest of Iran in the early seventh century, as well as the prior defeat of the Sasanians by the Byzantines, with reference to the internal dynamics of late Sasanian history. Our very conceptualization of the internal dynamics of Sasanian history, however, will involve a heretical assessment of this history, for it will take serious issue with the Christensenian view of the Sasanians as an étatiste/centralized polity, a perspective that ever since the 1930s, when Christensen published L’Iran sous les Sassanides, has become paradigmatic in scholarship.9 The overarching thesis of the present work is that, episodic and unsuccessful attempts of the Sasanians at centralization notwithstanding, the Sasanian monarchs ruled their realm through a decentralized dynastic system, the backbone of which was the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy.10 The theses proposed in this work have been formed after an exhaustive investigation and at times reevaluation of a host of external and internal sources pertaining to this period of Iranian history. Armenian, Greek, Syriac, and classical Islamic histories, especially the fut¯h (or conquest) narratives, have been u. utilized in a source-critical juxtaposition with literary and primary sources of Sasanian history, the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag (Khud¯yn¯mag or the Book of Kings)11 traa a a a dition(s) as they appear in classical Arabic histories but especially in the Sh¯hn¯a a ma of Ferdows¯ Middle Persian literature produced in the late antique period ı; of Iranian history; local Iranian histories; and, above all, the numismatic and sigillographic evidence of late Sasanian history. The present work, therefore, engages in a continuous and pervasive critical dialogue between the ways in which the Sasanians were perceived by their foreign, generally hostile, contemporary or near contemporaries, the ways in which they wished to be perceived from an imperial, central perspective, and the ways in which they were actually perceived by the powerful polities within their own periphery—polities which in fact forcefully articulated their own perception of the Sasanians. The end result, as we shall see, is that the historiographical strengths evinced by each of
9 Christensen, Arthur, L’Iran sous les Sassanides, Copenhagen, 1944 (Christensen 1944). See also page 7 and §2.1.1 below. 10 Throughout this study, the term Parthian, referring to various powerful Parthian families, is used in contradistinction to the term Arsacid. As we shall see in greater detail in §1.1, the Arsacids were the particular dynastic branch of the Parthians who ruled Iran from about 250 BCE to about 226 CE. For a deﬁnition of dynasticism as used in this study, see §2.1.2. 11 Shahbazi, Shapur, ‘On the Xwad¯y-N¯mag’, Acta Iranica: Papers in Honor of Professor Ehsan a a Yarshater VXI, (1990), pp. 218–223 (Shahbazi 1990); see also page 171ff.

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I NTRODUCTION these depictions of the Sasanians come to form a critical commentary on the shortcomings inherent in the others. The ﬁnal picture that is formed is explicitly and irrefutably conﬁrmed by the one corpus of data that suffers the least harm in a people’s historiographical production of their history: the primary sources of Sasanian history, the numismatic and sigillographic evidence. For the recently discovered seals pertaining to late Sasanian history remarkably conﬁrm one of the main theses of this study, namely, that throughout the Sasanian history there was a dichotomy between the P¯rs¯g (Sasanians) and the Pahlav,12 a ı which forced the Sasanians into a confederate arrangement with the powerful Parthian dynastic families living in their domains.13 As late as the seventh century, some of the dynastic bearers of the seals insist on identifying themselves as either a Pahlav or a P¯rs¯g. a ı As already mentioned, one of the central themes of this study is that the Sasanians ruled their realm by what we have termed the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy. This was a predominantly decentralized,14 and—borrowing a term from Cyril Toumanoff15 —dynastic system of government where, save for brief and unsuccessful attempts at centralization by the Sasanians in the third and the sixth centuries, the powerful dynastic Parthian families of the K¯rins, the Miha r¯ns, the Ispahbudh¯n, the S¯rens,16 and the Kan¯rang¯ an were, for all praca a u a ıy¯ tical purposes, co-partners in rule with the Sasanians. In Chapter 2, we shall abandon the centrist/monarchical image of the Sasanians currently in vogue in scholarship, and, revisiting the Sasanians from the perspective of the Parthian dynastic families, we shall trace the ebb and ﬂow of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy and the tensions inherent in it. This Sasanian–Parthian confederacy ultimately collapsed, however. The inception of its debacle occurred in the midst of the “astonishing reversal of fortune in the annals of war,” when the tide turned and the Sasanians suffered their inexplicable defeats of 624–628 at the hands of the Byzantines. As we shall see, had it not been for the Parthian withdrawal from the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy toward the end of the rule of Khusrow II Parv¯ (591–628), the Byzantines might very well have become a ız client state of the Sasanians, and Heraclius a son instead of a “brother of Khusrow II.”17 The debacle of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy during the last years of the Sasanian–Byzantine wars, however, had a far greater consequence for late antique Iranian history: the ultimate defeat of the Sasanians by the Arab armies and the eradication of their empire by the middle of the seventh century.

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Middle Persian term for Parthian. the geographical extent of these domains, see footnote 145. 14 Our conceptualization of any given system of government as a centralized or decentralized polity, needless to say, ought not entail any value judgments as to the successful functioning of that polity. 15 Toumanoff, C., Studies in Christian Caucasian History, Georgetown University Press, 1963 (Toumanoff 1963); see §2.1.2 below. 16 While a detailed analysis of the S¯ rens will not be undertaken in this study, they were in fact u an integral part of this confederacy. 17 Sebeos 1999, part II, p. 212.
13 For

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I NTRODUCTION It was in the immediate aftermath of the ﬁnal collapse of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy, in the wake of Khusrow II’s deposition and murder in 628 CE , that the unprecedented chain of events that ultimately led to the total annihilation of the Sasanian monarchy after four centuries of rule commenced: the early Arab conquest of Sasanian territories. A second central theme of the present study—arrived at through a critical examination of the fut¯h narratives u. in juxtaposition with the Sasanian Xw ad¯y-N¯mag historiography18 —therefore, a a is that the early Arab conquest of Iraq took place, not, as has been conventionally believed, in the years 632–634, after the accession of the last Sasanian king Yazdgird III (632–651) to power, but in the period from 628 to 632.19 The conquest of Iraq occurred precisely during the period of internecine warfare between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ The two factions, engrossed in their strife in a ıg. promoting their own candidates to the throne, were incapable of putting up a united defense against the encroaching Arab armies. The subsequent conquest of the Iranian plateau, moreover, was ultimately successful because powerful Parthian dynastic families of the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n (quarter of the east) and k¯st-i u aa u a a a ¯durb¯dag¯n (quarter of the north) abandoned the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III, withdrew their support from Sasanian kingship, and made peace with the Arab armies. In exchange, most of these retained de facto power over their territories. The recalculation of the chronology of the early conquest of Iraq to the period between 628–632, in turn, has crucial implications, not only for the chronology of the conquest of Syria and the famous desert march of Kh¯lid b. a Wal¯ but also for a host of other signiﬁcant events in early Islamic history. If, ıd, as we claim, the conquest of Iraq took place in 628–632, how then are we to perceive the role and whereabouts of the Prophet Muhammad20 at the onset of . the conquests of Iraq according to this alternative chronology? The conquest of Iraq is traditionally believed to have occurred after the death of the Prophet in 632 and, after the ridda21 wars (or wars of apostasy). If Prophet Muhammad . was alive according to this newly offered scheme, how then will this affect our traditional understanding of early Islamic history? What of our conventional view of the roles of Ab¯ Bakr and Umar as caliphs in this period of Islamic u history? If Muhammad was alive, what of apostasy? . Our chronological reconstruction of the conquest of Iraq could potentially have revolutionary implications for our understanding of early Islamic history. We shall offer one possible, conjectural answer to these crucial questions here,22 for by the time we have expounded our thesis, it will become clear
an elaboration of this, see page 15ff below. we shall see, the implications of what might initially seem to be a minor chronological recalculation, are in fact far-reaching. 20 According to the generally accepted chronology, the Prophet Muhammad was born sometime . in 570 CE and died in 632 CE. 21 See footnote 900. 22 See §3.5.
19 As 18 For

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I NTRODUCTION that its implications will require a thorough reevaluation of a number of crucial episodes of early Islamic history, a task beyond the conﬁnes of the present study. One thing will remain a constant in the midst of all of this: understanding the nature of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy and disentangling its gradual and ﬁnal collapse will lead to a better understanding of the nature and rise of the Arabo-Islamic polity. So much for the implications of our thesis vis-à-vis early Islamic history. How are we to view the effects of the Arab conquest in the context of the post-conquest Iranian history? The Arab conquest of Iran has long been viewed by some as a watershed in Iranian history. Through it, the pre-Islamic history of Iran is presumed to have led to its Islamic history. Examining the histories of Tabarist¯n, G¯ an, and para ıl¯ . tially Khur¯s¯n, from the late Sasanian period through the conquest and up to aa the middle of the eighth century, we shall highlight the fallacies of this perspective. We shall argue that the Arab conquest of Iran ought not be viewed as a total overhaul of the political structures of Iran in late antiquity. For while the kingship of the house of S¯s¯n was destroyed as a result of the onslaught of the aa Arab armies, the Pahlav domains and the Parthian power over these territories remained predominantly intact throughout the Umayyad period. Here then we shall follow our methodology of investigating the history of Iran not through the center—this time of the Caliphate—but through the periphery. This then becomes a testimony to the strength of the Parthian legacy: as the Parthians had not disappeared with the advent of the Sasanians in the third century, neither did they leave the scene after the Arab conquest of Iran in the middle of the seventh century, their polities and cultural traditions long outliving the demise of the Sasanian dynasty. This thesis is, in turn, closely connected to our assessment of the aims of the Arab armies in their conquest of Iranian territories. The course of the Arab conquest, the subsequent pattern of Arab settlement, and the topography of the Abb¯sid revolution,23 all give evidence of one signiﬁcant fact: the overthrow of a the Sasanian dynasty was not an intended aim of the Arab armies, but only an incidental by-product of it, precipitated by the prior debacle of the Sasanian– Parthian confederacy. For the primary objective of the Arab conquerors was not the actual conquest and colonization of Iranian territories, but to bypass these, in order to gain access to the trade entrepôts in Transoxiana. Recognizing this, chief Pahlav families reached a modus vivendi with the Arab armies. In part two of the present study we shall turn our attention to the spiritual landscape of Iran during the Sasanian period. Providing a synopsis of the state of research on this theme during the past two decades, we shall then put forth the fourth major thesis of this study: the Sasanian/Parthian political dichotomy was replicated in the realms of spirituality, where the Pahlav predominantly adhered to Mihr worship, a Mithraic spiritual universe that was distinct from the Zoroastrian orthodoxy—whatever the nature of this—that the Sasanians
23 These

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latter two themes will be addressed in detail in a sequel to this study.

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I NTRODUCTION ostensibly tried to impose on the populace living in their territories. As the concentration of Pahlav power had always been in their traditional homelands, Parthava24 and Media25 —what the Sasanians later termed the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n u aa and k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n, the quarters of the east and north—so too was the preu a a a ponderance of Mihr worship in these territories. Our evidence for the prevalence of Mihr worship in the northern, northeastern, and northwestern parts of the Sasanian domains will hopefully also become relevant, not only for further deciphering the religious proclivity of the Arsacids, but also for engaging the ongoing debate between Iranists and classicists about the provenance of Mihr worship in Roman Mithraism—a debate that has been resumed during the past three decades within the scholarly community. Finally, we shall conclude our study with an analysis of the Mithraic features of the revolt of the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ at the end of the sixth century, a a u ın and the continuity of these Mithraic themes in the revolts of Bih¯far¯ and a ıd Sunb¯d in the middle of the eighth century. The upshot of our contention a here is that, far from betraying a presumed synthesis of Iranian and Islamic themes, the aforementioned revolts evince startling evidence for the continuity of Mihr worship in Pahlav territories. In a sequel to this study, we shall trace the continuity of this Parthian heritage to the revolts of the K¯rinid M¯z¯ ar in a a ıy¯ Tabarist¯n and B¯bak-i Khurramd¯ in Azarb¯yj¯n, assessing the connections a a ın a a . of these to the cultural heritage that we perceive to have affected the Abb¯a sid revolutionaries. A word needs to be said about the issues that instigated this study, and further remarks about the author’s methodology, before we proceed.

The problem
In 1992, Walter Kaegi wrote his magisterial work Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests. Here he provided an explanatory exposé of the rationale behind his opus. “For some scholars of Islamic history,” he wrote, “this subject may appear to be ill-conceived, because for them there is no reason why the Muslims should not have defeated and supplanted Byzantium. No adequate Byzantine historical research exists on these problems, certainly none that includes the use of untranslated Arabic sources.”26 In 1981, Fred M. Donner had already written The Early Islamic Conquests, a work that in the tradition of nearly a century of highly erudite scholarship sought not only to “provide a new interpretation of the Islamic conquest movement, . . . [but also to argue that] Muhammad’s career and the doctrines of Islam revolutionized both the . ideological bases and the political structures of Arabian society, to the extent
footnote 77. the historical boundaries of Media, see Dandamayev, M. and Medvedskaya, I., ‘Media’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007 (Dandamayev and Medvedskaya 2007). 26 Kaegi, Walter, Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests, Cambridge University Press, 1992 (Kaegi 1992), pp. 1–2.
25 For 24 See

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I NTRODUCTION that they transformed . . . the face of . . . a large part of the globe.”27 Kaegi and Donner’s works are symptomatic of the state of the ﬁeld in late antique studies. For, at the very least during the past half century, the late antique and early medieval history of Iran has found itself in a paradigmatic quagmire of research, where the parameters of the ﬁeld have been set by Byzantinists and Arabists.28 While a host of erudite scholars continue to exert their efforts in disentangling the perplexing questions surrounding the nature and rise of the Arabo-Islamic polity and its dizzying successes, and while a number of erudite works have addressed aspects of Sasanian history, except for general observations and artiﬁcial asides, no one has bothered to address the Arab conquest of Iran and its aftermath from a Sasanian perspective. The last magnum opus on Sasanian history was Christensen’s L’Iran sous les Sassanides, published in 1936.29 The path for all subsequent research on the Sasanians, including that of Christensen, however, had already been paved by the masterpiece of the nineteenth-century semitist, philologist, and classicist, Theodore Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, which appeared in 1879.30 If Nöldeke had been the father of Sasanian studies, however, it was the Christensenian thesis that had set the subsequent paradigm for Sasanian historiography. Building on Nöldeke’s work, and using the then available primary sources of Sasanian history—sources which belong predominantly to the third and partly to the sixth centuries only—and relying more or less credulously on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition of Sasanian historiography a a and other secondary accounts of this history, Christensen argued that the rise of Sasanians, after their defeat of the Arsacids in the third century, heralded a new epoch in Iranian history. From this period onward, and through most of their subsequent history, some lapses notwithstanding, argued Christensen, the Sasanians were able to establish a highly efﬁcient and centralized system of
27 Donner, Fred M., The Early Islamic Conquests, Princeton University Press, 1981 (Donner 1981), p. ix and p. 8, respectively. 28 To give the reader a sense of this, one needs only mention the impressive series launched by Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs, in which, in multi-volume format, the author has thus far treated the ﬁfth and sixth centuries of this relationship. Shahîd, Irfan, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 1, Part 1: Political and Military History, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, 1995 (Shahîd 1995). Equally remarkable for the depth of its scholarship, is the series edited by Averil Cameron on The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East. In this series see, for example, Cameron, Averil and Conrad, Lawrence I. (eds.), The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, III: States, Resources and Armies, Princeton, 1995, papers of the Third Workshop on Late Antiquity and Early Islam (Cameron and Conrad 1995). An article by Zeev Rubin on the reforms of Khusrow I is included in the volume mentioned here. It must be said that the proclivity of the majority of Iranists, who in the wake of the Iranian revolution of 1978–79 have been obsessed with the modern and contemporary history of Iran, has also exacerbated this void in the ﬁeld. Those who, like the present author, adhere to a long durée conceptualization of pre-modern history, will reckon that on some fundamental level, the implications of the present work also engage contemporary Iranian history. 29 We will use here the second edition, Christensen 1944. 30 Nöldeke, Theodore, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, Leiden, 1879 (Nöldeke 1879).

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I NTRODUCTION government in which the monarchs functioned as the supreme rulers of the land.31 The lapses, Christensen argued, were signiﬁcant and occasioned by decentralizing forces exerted on the monarchy by the various strata of the nobility of the empire, some of whom were of Parthian origin. In spite of these recurrent lapses, one of which incidentally, as he himself admitted, continued through most of the fourth century, Christensen insisted that the Sasanians were always able to reassert their control and rule their empire as a centralized monarchical system. The height of this monarchical power came with Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an (531–579), who implemented a series of important reforms ırv¯ in the wake of another surge of the nobility’s power and the revolutionary Mazdakite uprisings. Through these reforms Khusrow I was able to inaugurate one of the most splendid phases of Sasanian history. In the tradition of Ardash¯ I ır (224–241) and Sh¯p¯r I (241–271), this exemplary king restored the normative a u dimensions of Sasanian kingship: a powerful, centralized monarchy capable of mustering its resources in order to ameliorate and stabilize the internal conditions of the realm, maintain its boundaries, and, when appropriate, launch expansionist policies. What had happened to the centrifugal forces of prior centuries, most importantly, to those of the powerful Parthian nobility? Allegedly, in the process of his reforms, Khusrow I had metamorphosed these into a “nobility of the robe,” bereft of any substantive authority. Meanwhile, in the late sixth century, for some inexplicable reason, two major rebellions sapped the power of the centralizing Sasanian monarchs, the rebellions of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a u b¯ (590–591) and Vist¯hm (595–600). Curiously, both rebellions were launched ın a by Parthian dynastic families. Unexpectedly, the Parthians had come to question the very legitimacy of the Sasanian kings. For a while they even usurped Sasanian kingship. The Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ forced the Sasanian king a a u ın Khusrow II Parv¯ to take refuge in the bosoms of their ancient enemies, the ız Byzantines. The Ispahbudh¯n Vist¯hm carved, for all practical purposes, an a a independent realm in an extensive stretch of territory that ran from Khur¯s¯n aa to Azarb¯yj¯n. Even more Parthian insurgencies followed in the wake of these. a a Such outright rebellion against the legitimacy of the kingship of the house of S¯s¯n was unprecedented in the annals of Sasanian history. What is more, it aa was in the wake of the presumably successful and forceful centralizing reforms of Khusrow I that this trend was established. What had happened? Had Khusrow I not sapped the authority of the powerful Parthian families? Why had they come to question the very legitimacy of Sasanian kingship, unleashing havoc at the height of Sasanian supremacy? The Christensenian thesis could not address this. Neither could it address the reasons why the last Sasanian monarch of substantial power, Khusrow II Parv¯ (591–628), the same monarch ız during whose rule the Sasanian empire was poised for world dominion, was suddenly to lose not only the war, but his very head by 628 CE. Christensen, likewise, did not address the subsequent turbulent history of the Sasanians in
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more in depth analysis of his thesis will be given in §2.1.1.

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I NTRODUCTION any great detail. For him, as for all subsequent scholars of Sasanian history, the period from 628 to the last feeble Sasanian king, Yazdgird III (632–651), was simply too chaotic to be amenable to any systematic research. Christensen’s magniﬁcent opus, therefore, stopped with the ascension of Yazdgird III, which was presumably when the Arab conquests had begun according to him and subsequent scholars of Sasanian history. And so the Christensenian reconstruction of Sasanian history came to an abrupt, perplexing end, leaving the student of Sasanian history bafﬂed by the inexplicable spiraling demise of the dynasty. One of the primary sources which Christensen had used in order to arrive at this thesis was an ofﬁcial historiography, patronized by the Sasanians and known as the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, or the Book of Kings. The Sasanians, in fact, a a were the ﬁrst to promote a literary account of Iranian history.32 Through this ofﬁcial historiography, the Iranian national history was traced from the ﬁrst mythic Iranian monarch, Kay¯marth,33 to the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III. u While patronizing this national history, however, the Sasanians also undertook another feat: they deleted most of the annals of their defeated foes, the Arsacids (250 BCE–224 CE), from the pages of history, cutting in half the duration of their rule. In Das iranische Nationalepos, Nöldeke had already argued that in spite of this Sasanian censorial effort at deleting Arsacid history, the accounts of particular, powerful, Parthian families do appear in the pages of the Iranian national history. Thus, while there is next to nothing left of the history of the Arsacids in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition, several Parthian families did superima a pose their histories during the Arsacid period onto the heroic sections of the Iranian national history.34 While Nöldeke and others underlined the continued cultural and political legacy of the Parthians to Sasanian history, and while some, including Christensen, even highlighted the continued presence of particular Parthian families in the course of Sasanian history, the Christensenian paradigm of Sasanian history continued to hold sway: with the defeat of the Arsacids and the murder of Ardav¯n in 224 CE, the Sasanians inaugurated a new a era in Iranian history, establishing a centralized, étatiste, imperial power which, in collaboration with the clergy, imposed an orthodox creed on the ﬂock living in its territories. But this was precisely the image that the Sasanians wanted to present of themselves. It might have been constructed under the inﬂuence of the model of caesaropapism effected in Byzantium from the fourth century. This étatiste model can certainly not be substantiated with reference to the primary sources of Sasanian history, for these, belonging primarily to the third

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32 Yarshater, Ehsan, ‘Iranian National History’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), pp. 359–477, Cambridge University Press, 1983b (Yarshater 1983b). 33 In the Iranian religious tradition, Kay¯ marth or Gay¯ mart, literally meaning the mortal man, u o was the protoplast of man. See Shaki, Mansour, ‘Gay¯mart’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia o Iranica, New York, 2007a (Shaki 2007a). 34 Shahbazi refers to this as the Ctesian method of historical writing, that is, the superimposition of contemporary histories onto remote antiquity.

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I NTRODUCTION and the sixth centuries, are far too disjointed to give us a picture of the nature of Sasanian administrative polity throughout its history. Yet the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag image of the Sasanians was uncritically accepted by a a Christensen and adopted by those who followed him. So convinced were they by the Sasanian censorial effort in deleting Arsacid history, and so accepting were they of the Sasanians’ view of themselves as a benevolent and centralized monarchy, that none paid any heed to the implications of Nöldeke’s observation. When and how, then, had the Parthians engaged in their own historiographical endeavors in the ofﬁcial histories patronized by the Sasanians? One must certainly reckon with the oral dimension of Parthian historiography during the Arsacid period, as the late matriarch of Zoroastrian studies, Mary Boyce, underlined in her study of the Parthian G¯s¯ns.35 Yet this does not explain evoa erything. For if the accounts of Arsacid history were deleted from the pages of the Sasanian Xw ad¯y-N¯mag histories and if the few Parthian families that a a existed under the Sasanians were ultimately under the étatiste pressure of the Sasanian polity, how then, as we shall see, were the sagas of various Parthian families so intimately, systematically, and integrally intertwined with the stories of successive Sasanian kings and queens in these histories? In fact, as soon as the historical, Sasanian, section of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition begins to acquire a a ﬂesh, whether in the classical Arabic histories or in the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ a a ı, the Parthian dynastic families appear side-by-side of the Sasanian kings. Some of these towering Parthian ﬁgures of Sasanian history are, moreover, depicted very positively in the histories of the Sasanians. A corollary of the present thesis, therefore, is that while the Sasanians were successful in deleting Arsacid history, they seriously failed in obliterating the history of the Parthian families from the pages of history. The Sasanians were unsuccessful in this attempt, because the Parthians co-authored substantial sections of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradia a tions, and they did so during the Sasanian period and most probably afterwards as well.36 This is patently clear from an examination of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traa a dition, which observation necessitates a word about the sources for Sasanian history and our methodology.

Sources and methodology
To reconstruct Sasanian history one relies on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition as a a contained, for example, in classical Arabic historiography; on Middle Persian sources written in the late Sasanian or early caliphal period; on Armenian, Greek, and Syriac sources dealing with Sasanian history; and ﬁnally on coins, seals, inscriptions, and other products of material cultural. The order of priority has been reckoned to be the reverse of what we have enumerated. These
35 Boyce, Mary, ‘The Parthian G¯ s¯n and Iranian Minstrel Tradition’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic oa Society 1, (1957a), pp. 10–45 (Boyce 1957a). 36 Nöldeke had already postulated this, but he had not examined it in any detail in his pioneering work on the Iranian national epic.

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I NTRODUCTION have been respectively termed the tertiary, secondary, and primary sources for Sasanian history.37 Numismatists and scholars of material culture have long reprimanded historians for their inordinate emphasis and reliance on literary history, both foreign and native, at the expense of the material sources for Sasanian history. It is not for nothing that these latter have been considered primary for reconstructing Sasanian history. Seals, coins, and inscriptions speak clearly, succinctly, and usually far more reliably and explicitly than the corpora of literary narratives, foreign or native, that suffer from layers of ideological underpinning, editorial rewriting, and hazards of transmission over centuries. They are, therefore, crucial for reconstructing Sasanian history and can serve as a gauge of the reliability of the information that we cull from literary sources. This study makes ample use of coins and seals. Among the latter is Rika Gyselen’s recently discovered collection of seals pertaining to the late Sasanian period. These seals put to rest, once and for all, the debate about the veracity of the military and administrative(?) quadripartition of the Sasanian realm following the much-discussed reforms of Khusrow I in the sixth century.38 They are by all accounts the greatest discovery of the past half century of primary sources for late Sasanian history; as such they are unprecedented in terms of their implications for this history. Remarkably, they corroborate, explicitly and concretely, our conclusions regarding the P¯rs¯ a ıg/Pahlav dichotomy prevalent throughout Sasanian history, for they give clear testimony to the continued signiﬁcance of this dichotomous imperial identity late in Sasanian history.39 Recent scholarship in numismatics has likewise contributed substantially to disentangling crucial episodes of late Sasanian history. Recent works of Malik and Curtis, and Tyler–Smith on Sasanian numismatics, in particular, have added to our understanding of the chronologies of, respectively, the reign of the Sasanian queen B¯r¯ndukht, and ua the crucial battle of Q¯disiya between the Arab and Iranian armies. It is only a within the context of the narrative histories at our disposal, however, that the full ramiﬁcations of these signiﬁcant recent strides in Sasanian numismatic history can be established. While crucial, the primary sources for Sasanian history suffer from a clear limitation: they belong predominantly to the third and sixth century, leaving a substantial lacuna for the centuries in between. This in itself might be a telling indicator of the course of Sasanian history and the étatiste junctures of this history. Even numismatists acknowledge that our primary sources for Sasanian

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37 Gignoux, Philippe, ‘Problèmes de distinction et de priorité des sources’, in J. Harmatta (ed.), Prolegomena to the Sources on the History of Pre-Islamic Central Asia, pp. 137–141, Budapest, 1979 (Gignoux 1979). It is not clear where exactly in Gignoux’s scheme we should put the Xw ad¯ya N¯mag. a 38 Gyselen, Rika, The Four Generals of the Sasanian Empire: Some Sigillographic Evidence, vol. 14 of Conferenze, Rome, 2001a (Gyselen 2001a). For an enumeration of these seals, see notes 473 and 477, as well as Table 6.3 on page 470. 39 Signiﬁcantly, the author became apprised of these seals after she had already formed the theses of this study based on literary narratives.

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I NTRODUCTION history are remarkably disjointed and comparatively limited to begin with.40 Besides, seals, coins, and reliefs, while clarifying crucial dimensions of Sasanian history, do not always give us a narrative. Coins and seals are not storytellers. As such they do not provide a context within which we can evaluate the sagas of signiﬁcant personae and social collectivities powering Sasanian history. For this we have to resort to what Gignoux has termed the secondary and tertiary sources, the native and foreign sources for reconstructing Sasanian history. Throughout this study we attempt to integrate—to the extent possible, but at times in detail—the strong and pervasive interdependencies of Iranian and Armenian sociopolitical, religious, and cultural history. Here, we shall underline the crucial signiﬁcance of the rule of the Arsacids (53–428 CE)41 in Armenia into the ﬁfth, and its legacies in the subsequent two centuries, in the context of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy.42 To this end we make ample use of Armenian histories in our study.43 Explicit conﬁrmation of the signiﬁcant and central contribution of the Parthian dynastic families to Sasanian history abounds in the pages of Armenian histories. Armenian historical writing was born under the aegis of the Christian Armenian Church in the ﬁfth century.44 The birth of the Armenian alphabet, in fact, was integrally connected to the production of Christian Armenian histories. This overwhelmingly Christian dimension to Armenian historical literature, coupled with the increasing Byzantine pull on Armenia, ultimately led to a worldview in which Armenian chroniclers systematically downplayed the Iranian dimension of the kingdom’s political and cultural history.45 Yet, as we shall see, precisely because the heritage of Arsacid rule was a recent and vivid memory in Armenian historical memory, the Parthian dimension of Sasanian history was systematically highlighted and underlined in early Christian Armenian historiography. As Lang, Garsoian, and Russell have been at pains to point out, furthermore, in spite of the ideological proclivities of Armenian
40 Gyselen, Rika, ‘Nouveaux matériaux’, Studia Iranica 24, (2002), pp. 61–69 (Gyselen 2002), here p. 180. 41 For a synopsis of the history of the Arsacids in Armenia and sources for further study, see Chaumont, M.L., ‘Armenia and Iran: The pre-Islamic Period’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 417–438, New York, 1991 (Chaumont 1991). Also see page 43 and footnotes 82 and 192. 42 The author has merely been able to peck at this important fount of information for Sasanian history and the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy. It is hoped that future studies will further integrate this crucial Armenian dimension of Sasanian history into the late antique history of Iran. 43 Thanks to the tireless efforts of scholars of Armenian history who have admirably edited and translated a substantial collection of the primary sources of this history, students of the late antique history of Iran who have no knowledge of Armenian, such as the author, can now overcome this linguistic barrier and access this important historical corpus. These sources will be listed in the course of this study. 44 See, among others, the introduction by Robert W. Thompson to Elish¯, History of Vardan and e ˙ the Armenian War, Harvard University Press, 1982, translated and commentary by R. Thomson (Elish¯ 1982), pp. 1–3. e ˙45 Garsoian, Nina G., Armenia between Byzantium and the Sasanians, London, 1985b (Garsoian 1985b).

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I NTRODUCTION historians, it is still possible to disentangle the pervasive Iranian undercurrents of Armenian history.46 Pending further research, one might even postulate that the commentaries that Christian Armenian chroniclers made on the religious landscape of the Sasanian realm were informed more by the recent pagan heritage of Armenia itself than by the religious inclinations of particular Sasanian kings, and, therefore, constituted a Christian commentary on the legacies of the Armenian past. Alternatively, the picture that Armenian histories painted of the religious panorama of the Sasanian domains might have been a depiction of the religious predilections of the Iranian Parthian dynastic families, who struck deep roots in Armenia. In this context, we underline not only the signiﬁcance of Arsacid rule in Armenia to the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy, but also the clear evidence of Mihr worship in Armenia,47 and the connection of this to the evident prevalence of Mihr worship in the Pahlav territories in Iran. Besides Armenian histories, selective use has also been made of other foreign sources, especially Greek and Syriac sources relevant to the history of the Sasanians in late . The Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traditions, the fut¯h narratives, and other accounts of a a u. Iranian national history, as they appear in classical Arabic histories,48 are central to the present study. It has long been recognized that the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a traditions were incorporated into the classical Arabic histories which were composed in the ninth and tenth centuries. Some of these, such as Tabar¯ (839– ı’s . 923) Ta r¯kh al-Rusul wa ’l-Mul¯k (Annales),49 Bal am¯ (d. between 992 and 997) ı u ı’s T¯r¯kh,50 Tha ¯lib¯ (961–1038) Ghurar Akhb¯r Mul¯k al-Furs wa S¯yarihim,51 aı a ı’s a u ı D¯ ınawar¯ (d. between 894 and 903) Akhb¯r al-Tiw¯l,52 Ibn Balkh¯ F¯rsn¯ma ı’s a ı’s a a . a (written sometime between 1105 and 1116),53 and, ﬁnally, Ya q¯b¯ (d. early u ı’s tenth century) Ta r¯kh,54 incorporate the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traditions systematiı a a cally. We regularly resort to these in order to reconstruct Sasanian history. The most important of these works are those of Tabar¯ and Tha ¯lib¯ 55 ı a ı. .
46 Lang, David M., ‘Iran, Armenia, and Georgia’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), pp. 505–537, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Lang 1983); Garsoian 1985b; Russell, James R., ‘Armenia and Iran: III Armenian Religion’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 438–444, New York, 1991 (Russell 1991). 47 Russell, James R., ‘On the Armeno-Iranian Roots of Mithraism’, in John R. Hinnells (ed.), Studies in Mithraism, pp. 553–565, Rome, 1990b (Russell 1990b). See §5.4.4. 48 Yarshater 1983b, pp. 360–363. 49 Tabar¯ Muhammad b. Jar¯ Ta r¯kh al-Rusul wa ’l-Mul¯k (Annales), Leiden, 1879–1901, edited ı, ır, ı u . . by M.J. de Goeje (Tabar¯ 1879–1901). ı . 50 Bal am¯ Tarjumih-i T¯r¯kh-i Tabar¯, Tehran, 1959, edited by M.J. Mashkur (Bal am¯ 1959). ı, aı ı ı . 51 Tha ¯lib¯ Ab¯ Mansur, Ghurar Akhb¯r Mul¯k al-Furs wa S¯yarihim, Paris, 1900, edited by H. a ı, u a u ı .¯ Zotenberg (Tha ¯lib¯ 1900). a ı 52 D¯ ınawar¯ Ab¯ Han¯ Ahmad, Akhb¯r al-Tiw¯l, Cairo, 1960, edited by Abd al-Mun‘im ’Amir ı, u . ıfa . a . a Jamal al-Din al-Shayyal (D¯ ınawar¯ 1960). ı 53 Ibn Balkh¯ F¯rsn¯ma, Shiraz, 1995, edited by Mansur Rastgar Fasai (Ibn Balkh¯ 1995). ı, a a ı 54 Ya q¯ bi, Ahmad b. Ab¯ Ya q¯ b, Ibn W¯dhih qui Dicitur al-Ya q¯b¯, Historiae, Leiden, 1969, u ı u a u ı . edited by M.T. Houtsma (Ya q¯bi 1969). u 55 For other chronicles, such as B¯ un¯ Muhammad b. Ahmad, Ath¯r al-B¯qiya, Tehran, 1984, ¯ a ır¯ ı, a . . translated by Akbar Danasirisht (B¯ un¯ 1984), B¯ un¯ Muhammad b. Ahmad, The Chronology ır¯ ı ır¯ ı, . .

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I NTRODUCTION Among the most important sources containing the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag (or Book a a of Kings) tradition, however, is the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ (940–1019 or 1025).56 a a ı The Sh¯hn¯ma, the poetic epic of the scholar/poet Ferdows¯ was itself based a a ı, on a prose account compiled at the orders of a compatriot of the poet, Ab¯ u Mansur Abdalrazz¯q-i Tus¯ (d. 962).57 One of the primary sources of the Sh¯ha a .¯ .¯ ı n¯ma-i Ab¯ Mansur¯, was, in turn, the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag(s). Scholars of Iran have a u a a .¯ ı long admired the Sh¯hn¯ma as one of the greatest poetic opera of Iranian naa a tional tradition, or of any ethnic community, for that matter. For an inordinate span of time, however, they have also dismissed the Sh¯hn¯ma as a source a a for reconstructing Iranian history. Not only Iranists, but also solitary classicists who touch on Sasanian history, have generally regarded the Sh¯hn¯ma as a a merely a literary epic, worthless for reconstructing Sasanian history. The reason: more than three fourths of this approximately 50,000-couplet epic poem details mythic and legendary accounts of Iranian history. And if one were to reckon the latter of no academic merit, one might just as well abandon the entire Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ 58 One fourth of the book, however, presumes to a a ı. detail Sasanian history. What do we do with this? Until quite recently, when Zeev Rubin reprimanded the ﬁeld, Iranists threw the ill-fated baby out with the bathwater. And why did they do this? Because its medium was poetic and as such it was presumed to take poetic license and hence more liberties than, ı, say, the works of Ibn Farazdaq, Ibn Ish¯q, or Tabar¯ the last of which, incor. .a porating the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition,59 we, incidentally, do use regularly for a a reconstructing Sasanian history. The present work uses the Sasanian sections of the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdowa a s¯ systematically. And it will show that the Sh¯hn¯ma is not merely one of ı a a the sources, but often the only source that provides us with details corroborating the information contained in some of the primary sources for Sasanian history, such as the crucially signiﬁcant sigillographic evidence, or in some of the secondary sources for Sasanian history, such as the history of the Armenian Bishop Sebeos.60 This is so because, as Omidsalar, Khaleqi Motlaq, and others
¯ ı, of Ancient Nations, London, 1879, translation by C.E. Sachau (B¯ un¯ 1879); or Mas ud¯ Al¯ b. ır¯ ı ı ¯ ı Husayn, Mur¯j al-Dhahab wa Ma ¯din al-Jawhar, Paris, 1869, edited by Barbier de Meynard (Mas ud¯ u a . 1869), which provide other signiﬁcant information pertaining to Sasanian history, see Yarshater 1983b, pp. 360–363. 56 Shahbazi, Shapur, Ferdows¯: A Critical Bibliography, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harı vard University Press, 1991d (Shahbazi 1991d). 57 For Ab¯ Mansur, see, among others, Motlagh, Djalal Khaleghi, ‘Yik¯ Mihtar¯ B¯ d Gardan-fau ı ı u .¯ r¯z’, Majallih-i D¯nishkadih-i Adab¯y¯t o Ul¯m-i Ins¯ni-i D¯nishg¯h-i Ferdows¯ 13, (1977), pp. 197– a a ı a u a a a ı 215 (Motlagh 1977); and Pourshariati, Parvaneh, Iranian Tradition in Tus and the Arab Presence in .¯ Khur¯s¯n, Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University, 1995 (Pourshariati 1995), Ch. II. aa 58 Naturally, students and scholars of Iranian myths, legends and pre-history may be justiﬁably appalled by this. For they regularly appeal to the Sh¯hn¯ma for assessing this dimension of Iraa a nian history and identity. Besides, through the Ctesian method we will see examples of pertinent information on Sasanian history hidden even within these legendary tales. 59 Nöldeke 1879, pp. xxi–xxii apud Yarshater 1983b, p. 360. 60 Sebeos 1999.

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I NTRODUCTION have warned us, Ferdows¯ in fact slavishly followed the sources which had been ı entrusted to him in order to compile his opus on Iranian national history.61 As we shall be investigating the Arab conquest of Iranian territories, the fut¯h narratives of classical Islamic historiography become essential to our study. u. As Albrecht Noth notes, an overwhelming majority of histories that deal with the period of the ﬁrst four caliphs, also deal with the theme of the Arab conquest of territories outside Arabia.62 These are designated under the rubric of fut¯h narratives.63 Examining the fut¯h narratives in the context of the Xw ad¯yu. u. a N¯mag historiography, we shall establish that Noth’s contention that Iran is a a primary theme in classical Arab historiography is unmistakably valid. We shall also underline the ways in which the introduction of the hijra, annalistic, and caliphal structures of historical writing, as they appear in the works of Tabar¯ and those who followed him, have seriously undermined the chronolı . ogy of the early Arab conquest of Sasanian territories as well as that of early Islamic history. Nevertheless, here we highlight the substantial reliability and the tremendous value of Sayf b. Umar’s account, upon which Tabar¯ and later ı . authors predominantly based themselves, in his retention of the primary theme of Iran in his narrative of the early conquest of Iraq. We shall demonstrate that a critical juxtaposition of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traditions with the fut¯h narratives a a u. not only disentangles the complex web of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy, but does so for a crucial juncture in Sasanian history: the early Arab conquest of the Sasanian territories in Iraq. This is one of the numerous instances where we resort to Armenian histories in order to gauge the reliability of the conclusions that we have reached. For a variety of reasons having to do with the nature of classical Islamic historiography, Crone once remarked that the “obvious way to tackle early Islamic history is . . . prosopographical,” and proceeded to do this in her Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of Islamic Polity.64 A year after these words appeared in print, so did Donner’s work, The Early Islamic Conquests, where he likewise engaged in a prosopographical study of important Arab ﬁgures of early Islamic history, speciﬁcally those who had participated in the conquest of the Fertile Crescent. In contrast, in the translated volume of Tabar¯ work dealing with ı’s . the early Arab conquest of Iraq, a majority of the important Iranian ﬁgures
61 Omidsalar, Mahmoud, ‘The Text of Ferdowsi’s Shâhnâma and the Burden of the Past’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 118, (1998), pp. 63–68, review of Olga M. Davidson’s Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings (Omidsalar 1998); Omidsalar, Mahmoud, ‘Unburdening Ferdowsi’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 116, (1996), pp. 235–242 (Omidsalar 1996); Omidsalar, Mahmoud, ‘Could al-Tha ¯lib¯ Have Used the Sh¯hn¯ma as a Source?’, in Jost¯rh¯y-i Sh¯hn¯maa ı a a a a a a shin¯s¯, pp. 113–126, Tehran, 2002 (Omidsalar 2002); Motlagh, Djalal Khaleghi, ‘Bad¯ aı ıhih Sar¯y¯ a ı-i Shaf¯h¯ va Sh¯hn¯ma’, in Jost¯rh¯y-i Sh¯hn¯ma-shin¯s¯, pp. 153–167, Tehran, 2002 (Motlagh 2002). a ı a a a a a a aı 62 Noth, Albrecht, The Early Arabic Historical Tradition: A Source Critical Study, Princeton, 1994, second edition in collaboration with Lawrence I. Conrad, translated by Michael Bonner (Noth 1994), p. 31. 63 For a more detailed discussion, see §3.1.1 below. 64 Crone, Patricia, Slaves on Horses: The Evolution of Islamic Polity, Cambridge University Press, 1980 (Crone 1980), here, p. 16.

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I NTRODUCTION appearing in Sayf b. Umar’s narrative have been reckoned to be creations of Sayf’s fertile imagination.65 Sayf, it appears, comfortably and systematically concocted Iranian names and genealogies. The resultant prosopographical map that we have been left with is one in which the Arabs ﬁght a host of ghosts in Iranian territories. And as ghosts cannot be active participants in any history, it is not clear whom precisely the Arabs fought in their wars of conquest in the Sasanian territories. The present work indulges in a heavy dose of prosopographical research in order to bring back to life the ghosts of the Iranian protagonists in late antique Iranian history, speciﬁcally those of Parthian ancestry. The reader must bear with us as we attempt to reconstruct these in the course of our narrative. Prosopographical research on the late antique history of Iran, however, especially when we are dealing with the Iranian side of things, is complicated by the nature of the sources with which we have to deal. Except in minor, but crucial, instances, our primary sources are of comparatively much less use than our foreign and native literary sources. These latter, in turn, have their own shortcomings, for whether we cull our data from the Armenian, Greek, Syriac, or classical Arabic sources, including the fut¯h narratives, or even from the u. Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traditions, the fact remains that they have been handed down a a to us through centuries of transmission and after undergoing transformations at the hands of authors not at home in Middle Persian naming practice. Consequently, depending on the source, the names of important Iranian historical ﬁgures have been metamorphosed through the languages in which they have been carried. As we shall see, the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ a a ı—apart from some mild use of poetic license—comes closest to the original Pahlavi rendition of these names. The inﬂation of titles in Sasanian political and administrative culture exacerbates this problem. Particularly in Greek and Arabic sources, the titles of signiﬁcant personae of Sasanian history are at times confused with their personal names. To complicate matters, in Arabic texts the names of important ﬁgures are often Arabicized. What aids us signiﬁcantly in disentangling this confusing web in which Middle Persian names have been bastardized, and in identifying ﬁgures appearing in different sources under various names, titles, or epithets, however, is the crucial importance of genealogical heritage in Sasanian history. If tribal traditions ensured the retention of identities in early Arabic histories—albeit we know too well of forged genealogies—so too the agnatic social structure of Iran in late antiquity, and the crucial signiﬁcance of belonging to an agnatic family, guaranteed the preservation of ancestral lines in Sasanian history.66 Genealogies were not simply the obsession of Arab genealogists. The upper crust of the hierarchical Iranian society, especially the Parthian dynastic families, were also adept at it. As this work deals with the saga of these families, it also serves as a prosopographical investigation into the fortunes of
65 Tabar¯ The Challenge to the Empires, vol. XI of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1993, translated ı, ı . . and annotated by Khalid Yahya Blankinship (Tabar¯ 1993). ı . 66 See §1.2.

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I NTRODUCTION important Parthian dynastic families in Sasanian history. In the course of the many identiﬁcations that are made, there will doubtless be some inaccuracies and inconsistencies. These will not detract, however, from the greater scheme that the author is proposing, namely, the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy. A word remains to be said about what this work does not purport to be. This is not a work on Sasanian administrative history, nor the much neglected domain of Sasanian economic history. For the former, the standard works remain those of Christensen, Rika Gyselen, and a host of other scholars of Sasanian history. The economic history of the Sasanian empire continues to remain a barren ﬁeld and, unfortunately, we shall not rectify this.67 While the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy and the general contours of the dynastic sociopolitical arrangement in Sasanian history will be investigated through the course of the present study, the precise administrative mechanisms through which this Sasanian–Parthian confederacy came to be implemented lie beyond its scope. This study is likewise not a detailed investigation of Sasanian religious life. While we stand by our postulate regarding the Mithraic dimensions of Parthian religiosity in the Sasanian period, and while we hope to offer signiﬁcant insights into the religious inclinations of some of the Parthian families, this is a study neither of Mihr worship, nor of the precise nature of the Mihr worship prevailing among various Parthian families. All that we are proposing is that there is substantial evidence for the popularity of Mihr worship in the k¯st-i u khwar¯s¯n and k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n of the Sasanian domains and among particuaa u a a a lar Parthian families, and that this Pahlav version of Mihr worship was distinct from the place of Mihr not only in the orthodox Mazdean creed, but also in that which was current among the Sasanians (P¯rs¯ And even here one must a ıg). probably reckon with the religious inclinations of particular Sasanian kings. In bringing to bear the results of the recent fascinating research on the Sasanian religious landscape, and while discussing evidence of Mihr worship among the Pahlav, it is hoped that subsequent scholarship on the post-conquest68 religious history of Iran will reckon with the multifarious religious landscape of the Sasanian empire.69 For at some point we need to abandon the notion, still prevalent
67 Except sporadically and in passing, moreover, scholarship has yet to engage the dialectic of the natural environment and human agency in Sasanian history. Michael Morony and Fred M. Donner’s works, as well as Christensen, Peter, The Decline of Iranshahr: Irrigation and Environments in the History of the Middle East 500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., Copenhagen, 1993b (Christensen 1993b), are valuable exceptions to this. 68 I owe this terminology to my good friend and colleague Dr. Asef Kholdani. As the process of conversion in Iran took many centuries to complete, the dichotomous conceptualization of history of Iran into pre-Islamic and Islamic periods seems unwarranted and superﬁcial for the purposes of this study. As this study hopes to establish, the political and cultural currents of Iranian history in the period under study fall more properly into late antique history of Iran, the Islamic periodization marking an artiﬁcial watershed imposed on this history. 69 The multifarious character of Islamic sectarian movements in early medieval Iran is itself a testimony to the source which fed it. Madelung, Wilferd, Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran, Albany, 1988 (Madelung 1988); Madelung, Wilferd, Religious and Ethnic Movements in Medieval Islam, Brookﬁeld, 1992 (Madelung 1992); Madelung, Wilferd, Religious Schools and Sects in Medieval

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I NTRODUCTION in some corners, that the strict hold of an orthodox Zoroastrian religious culture on its ﬂock eased the way for the conversion of Iranians into a coherently formed and egalitarian Muslim creed. A systematic methodology for investigating the course of conversion in Iran,70 and detailed studies of a host of other issues in late antique history of Iran are yet to be devised and undertaken. While this remains to be the case, we need only to acknowledge, as does the present author, that our investigations of late antique history of Iran are preliminary. Offering a number of dissenting perspectives, this study picks many ﬁghts. But it does so in the habit of a rebellious disciple indulging in a zand¯k reading ı of the orthodox creed. For in the ﬁnal analysis, it has been the nurturing of the latter that has paved the way for the present analysis. This debt will become apparent in the course of this study.

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Islam, London, 1985 (Madelung 1985). 70 The only viable study on this crucial topic thus far remains Bulliet, Richard W., Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History, Harvard University Press, 1979 (Bulliet 1979). See our discussion in §6.2; also see Choksy, Jamsheed K., Conﬂict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society, Columbia University Press, 1997 (Choksy 1997).

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CHAPTER 1

Preliminaries

1.1
71

The Arsacids
BCE ,

S known as the Dahae appear in our records on the southeastern borders of the Caspian Sea. To this region they ultimately gave their name, the land of
72

ometime before the middle of the third century

an Iranian people

the Dahae, or Dihist¯n. Shortly thereafter, a group of these, known as the Parni, a entered the Iranian plateau through the corridor established by the Atrak73 valley in the mountainous regions of northeastern Iran. Somewhere here, in the ancient city of Asaak,74 they established their capital. In Asaak, around 247 BCE , they crowned their king, Arsaces (Ashk) I. What had facilitated these momentous events was the turmoil that had engulfed the comparatively short-lived, post-Alexandrian, Seleucid kingdom of Iran,75 and the rebellions that had erupted against the Seleucids—preoccupied
71 For the Dahae, see de Blois, F. and Vogelsang, W., ‘Dahae’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 581–582, New York, 1991 (de Blois and Vogelsang 1991). 72 Which territories comprised the original homeland of the Dahae and their settlements have been the subject of intense debate in recent scholarship. See footnote 94 below. 73 The Atrak is a river in northeastern Iran, in the region of Khur¯s¯n. Following a northwest aa and subsequently a southwest course, the Atrak river ﬂows into the Caspian Sea. See Bosworth, C.E., ‘Atrak’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007a (Bosworth 2007a). 74 The precise location of Asaak is open to dispute. It has been postulated, however, that it was somewhere near the modern city of Q¯ch¯n in the Atrak valley. u a 75 After defeating the Achaemenid Darius III in 331 BCE , Alexander conquered Iran and the regions to the east. Upon his return from India, he died in Mesopotamia in 323 BCE. After Alexander’s death, the eastern parts of the conquered regions, including Iran, fell into the hands of one of his generals, Seleucus, who subsequently established the Seleucid empire. The Seleucids, however, became a western-oriented empire from early on. As Bickerman remarks, Seleucus’ transfer of his headquarters to the newly established city of Antioch in Syria in 300 BCE, was a momentous decision that “changed the course of Iranian history.” Bickerman, E., ‘The Seleucid Period’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Bickerman 1983), p. 4. Thereafter, the Seleucids lost their Iranian possessions “within a period of roughly ﬁfteen years from 250 to 235 BCE.” See Shahbazi, Shapur, Schipmman, K., Alram, M., Boyce, Mary, and Toumanoff, C., ‘Arsacids’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 525–546, New York, 1991 (Shahbazi et al. 1991), here p. 525.

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§1.1: T HE A RSACIDS C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES

in Egypt and Syria—in Bactria (Balkh) and Khur¯s¯n.76 Taking advantage of aa the unsettled situation in the east, the Parni moved on to take over the province (satrapy) that—at least since the Achaemenid period—had come to be known as Parthava.77 This was around 238 BCE. Shortly afterwards, they also conquered Hyrcania. Hyrcania, an extensive territory to the east of the Caspian Sea, included the regions later known as Gurg¯n (the land of the wolves) as a well as Tabarist¯n.78 Thenceforth, together with Parthava, the province of a . Hyrcania/Gurg¯n became one of the most important centers of the Dahae a (Parni). After their king, the dynasty that this group of the Parni established came to be known as the Arsacids (Persian Ashk¯n¯ an). After the new region which a ıy¯ they occupied as their homeland, they came to be known as the Parthians, that is, the people of Parthava. The Parthians, then, were the collectivity—composed of many large agnatic families79 —of the Iranian people that entered the plateau in the middle of the third century BCE. The term Parthian, in other words, is an Iranian ethnicon that has been coined after a territory, Parthava. The Arsacids, on the other hand, were the particular branch of the Parthians that came to rule Iran. Arsacid, therefore, is a dynastic name. By 170 BCE, the Arsacids had consolidated their rule in the southern regions of the Caspian Sea.80 The rule of one of their greatest kings, Mithradates (Mihrd¯d) I (171–138 BCE), saw further expansions to the west against the Seleua cids, and later against Rome. By 148 BCE, they had conquered the important and ancient region of Media in western Iran. And by 141 BCE, Mithradates I’s power was recognized as far as the ancient city of Uruk in Mesopotamia.81 Around this time, Mithradates I also conquered the important Seleucid city Seleucia, where he crowned himself king. By this time, Arsacid power in Mesopotamia was beyond doubt. In the process the Arsacids had made another crucial conquest: the conquest of Armenia. Ultimately, Arsacid rule (247 BCE–224 CE) over Iran and Mesopotamia lasted for more than four and a half centuries—more than their predecessors, the Achaemenids (559–330 BCE), or their successors, the Sasanians (224–651 CE). As we shall see in the course of this study, their control of Armenia
76 Besides the rebellion in Bactria, the most important uprising was that of the Seleucid satrap (governor) of Parthava and Hyrcania, Andragoras, who rebelled against his Seleucid overlord, Antiochus II, around 245 BCE. It has been suggested, though not without controversy, that Andragoras himself was probably a Persian, his original old Persian name being Narisanka. For Andragoras, see Frye, Richard N., ‘Andragoras’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, p. 26, New York, 1991 (Frye 1991), p. 26. 77 The boundaries of the province of Parthava were subject to change depending on the political situation in which the region found itself. As a general rule of thumb, it might be said to have included the provinces of Khur¯s¯n and Hyrcania. aa 78 Bivar, A.D.H., ‘Gorg¯n’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007a a (Bivar 2007a). 79 For the agnatic social structure of Iranian society, see §1.2 below. 80 Shahbazi et al. 1991. 81 Shahbazi et al. 1991.

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C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES §1.1: T HE A RSACIDS

also lasted for close to four centuries.82 The Parthians remained the greatest unconquered foes of the imperialistic Romans through most of their rule. Any impartial observer of antiquity ought to have reckoned them as the equals of the Romans during this period. Early in the twentieth century some began to recognize this. Debevoise remarked in 1931, for example, that “the most cursory examination of the [classical] literature . . . [underlined the fact] that Parthia was no second-rate power in the minds of the ancients . . . Poet and historian, dramatist and technician, all speak of the military and political strength of the Arsacidae. Collections of Latin inscriptions teem with references to Parthia. It was frankly admitted that there were but two great powers in the world: Rome and Parthia.”83 Debevoise’s sentiments, however, reﬂected a very new trend in scholarship. For prior to this, the Parthians were the subjects of some of the most partial scholarly accounts. They were thus considered the barbarian hordes of antiquity.84 As late as 1977 they were still characterized as the political “clowns of
82 After the conquest of Armenia by the Arsacids, the Arsacid king Vologeses (Valakhsh I, 51–78), appointed his younger brother, Tiridates, to the Armenian throne in 62 CE. This junior branch of the Arsacids remained in power in Armenia until the Sasanians conquered the region under Sh¯a p¯r I (241–272). The Sasanian king then appointed his brother Hormozd-Ardash¯ as governor of u ır Armenia. While Armenia remained a bone of contention between the Romans and the Parthians and, subsequently, the Byzantines and the Sasanians throughout its history, after a short hiatus, Arsacid rule was restored in Armenia under Bahr¯m II (276–293) in 286–87. The Arsacids continued a to rule Armenia until 428 when their kingdom was ofﬁcially abolished (see footnote 192). As Garsoian underlines, therefore, there is no question that the “Armenian Arsacids were a junior branch of the Parthian royal house.” Garsoian, Nina G., ‘Prolegomena to a Study of the Iranian Aspect of Arsacid Armenia’, in Armenia between Byzantium and the Sasanians, pp. 1–46, London, 1985e (Garsoian 1985e), p. 3. 83 Debevoise, Neilson C., ‘Parthian Problems’, The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literature 47, (1931), pp. 73–82 (Debevoise 1931), here, p. 74. Debevoise also gives a good summary of the extant, and unfortunately lost, classical literature dealing with the Parthians. 84 After the publication of Rawlison, George, The Sixth Oriental Monarchy, or The Geography, History, and Antiquities of Parthia, Collected and Illustrated from Ancient and Modern Sources, New York, 1837 (Rawlison 1837), the ﬁrst serious attempt at critically examining Parthian history was undertaken by Neilson Debevoise. In 1931, in an article entitled ‘Parthian Problems’, Debevoise ﬁrst articulated the results of his research, and the problems confronting scholars interested in Parthian history; this was followed seven years later by Debevoise, Neilson C., A Political History of Parthia, Chicago University Press, 1938 (Debevoise 1938). In the early 1960s, there also appeared Lozinski, Philip, The Original Homeland of the Parthians, ’s-Gravenhage, 1959 (Lozinski 1959); Ghirshman, Roman, Persian Art, Parthian and Sassanian Dynasties 249 B.C.–651 A.D., New York, 1962, translated by Stuart Gilbert and James Emmons (Ghirshman 1962); and Neusner, J., ‘Parthian Political Ideology’, Iranica Antiqua 3, (1963), pp. 40–59 (Neusner 1963). Debevoise’s work, however, remained the standard on the topic. In 1967, Colledge published Colledge, Malcolm A.R., The Parthians, New York, 1967 (Colledge 1967), and two decades later Colledge, Malcolm A.R., The Parthian Period, Leiden, 1986 (Colledge 1986). Most recently, other works have appeared: Schippmann, Klaus, Grundzüge der parthischen Geschichte, Darmstadt, 1980 (Schippmann 1980); translated into Persian as Schippmann, Klaus, Mab¯n¯-i T¯r¯kh-i P¯rt¯y¯n, Tehran, 2005, translation of Schippmann a ı aı a ı a 1980 by Houshang Sadighi (Schippmann 2005); Wiesehöfer, Josef, Das Partherreich und seine Zeugnisse: The Arsacid Empire: Sources and Documentation, Stuttgart, 1998 (Wiesehöfer 1998); Brunner, Christopher, ‘Geographical and Administrative Divisions: Settlements and Economy’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2),

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§1.1: T HE A RSACIDS C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES

the millennium.”85 And until recently, when Soviet archaeological investigations in Dihist¯n, Transoxiana, and the surrounding regions led to the discovera ies of ancient, settled civilizations and communities,86 the nomadic background of the Parthians was established wisdom, as was their want of any notable cultural and political legacy to posterity. The Arsacids, we are told, never really committed their history to writing.87 The skewed image through which they had been presented, therefore, was partly a legacy of Rome, of the ambivalence with which the classical authors had represented their enemies. Another group of foes, however, were equally and centrally involved in drawing this dismal image of Parthians and their history. These were an Iranian people, the Pers¯ the early migrants to ıs, the Iranian plateau who had settled in the region of F¯rs (P¯rs) in southwestern a a Iran, from much prior to the arrival of the Parni—at least a millennium before the common era.88 Many centuries later, it was from this same region of F¯rs, a with its tradition of hostility toward Parthava, that the Sasanians hailed. And, thus, having defeated the Parthians in the early third century, the Sasanians also inherited the added antagonism of the Pers¯ toward their conquered foes, the ıs Arsacids.89 While the Arsacids had presumably left us few written records of their history,90 under the patronage of the Sasanians the ﬁrst history of Iran, including what little they had left of Arsacid history, was committed to writing: in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag or Book of Kings.91 a a Literary sources for Parthian history, therefore, are predominantly based on these two sets of hostile historical sources with all the problems contained in them.92 In the combined hands of modern classicists, who had based themselves
pp. 747–778, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Brunner 1983); Bivar, A.D.H., ‘The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Bivar 1983); Wolski, Józef, L’empire des Arsacides, Leuven, 1993 (Wolski 1993); and Wissemann, Michael, Die Parther in der augusteischen Dichtung, Frankfurt, 1982 (Wissemann 1982). 85 Keall, E.J., ‘Political, Economic, and Social Factors on the Parthian Landscape of Mesapotamia and Western Iran’, Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 7 (Keall 1977), p. 81, cited in Wenke, Robert J., ‘Elymeans, Parthians, and the Evolution of Empires in Southwestern Iran’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 101, (1981), pp. 303–315 (Wenke 1981), here p. 303, n. 5. 86 Schippmann 1980; see footnote 94. 87 See in this context our discussion of sources on pages 10 and 459, as well as Boyce 1957a. 88 The Achaemenids, for instance, were Pers¯ ıs. 89 See also our discussion at the beginning of §5.1. 90 The many epic traditions and romances which have a clear Parthian provenance, such as V¯s o ı R¯m¯n, Samak-i Ayy¯r, and others, should warn us against taking this too literally. a ı a 91 See also page 171ff below. 92 The wealth of the sources pertaining to Parthian history is in material culture, speciﬁcally numismatic evidence. Besides recent archaeological investigations, through which, for instance, the ostraca of Nis¯ (near modern Ashk¯b¯d), have been found, there are papyri from the western regions a a a of Iran and Dura Europos (see footnote 2250) as well as Chinese sources. It should be mentioned, however, that archaeological investigations of Parthian homelands, Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n, have aa a . been practically nonexistent. Besides the sources listed above, also see Lukonin, V.G., ‘Political, Social and Administrative Institutions: Taxes and Trade’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 119–120, Cambridge University

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C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES §1.1: T HE A RSACIDS

on classical authors, and modern Iranists, some of whom uncritically accepted the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag versions of Iranian history, the Parthians thus suffered, at a a best, from collective historical amnesia and, at worst, from bouts of hostile historiography. A revival of Parthian studies in recent decades, however, has partially corrected this hostile representation of the Parthians and their contributions to the history of antiquity. Although we remain many decades behind a substantive knowledge of Parthian and Arsacid rule, our previous blind spots are being increasingly ﬁxed.93 Recent archaeological discoveries, for example, have established that we can no longer date the beginnings of urbanization in Dihist¯n, a Kopet D¯gh and the Murgh¯b regions—regions in which the nuclei of the Ara a sacid state were originally formed—to the Achaemenid or the Hellenistic periods, but to a much earlier period: the end of the third millennium BCE. By the beginnings of the ﬁrst millennium BCE, the Iron Age, the pace of urbanization in these areas became even more rapid. The question that has now risen, therefore, is the extent to which the Dahae partook in the advanced settled cultures of these territories. What is clear, according to Schippmann and others, is that we can no longer simply speak of the nomadic Dahae/Parni.94 Critically reexamining our historical givens, the Parthian contribution to the contemporary and subsequent cultures of the area have been increasingly recognized. At its simplest, we now recognize, for example, that had it not been for the Parthian
Press, 1983 (Lukonin 1983); Widengren, Geo, ‘Sources of Parthian and Sasanian History’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 1261–1284, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Widengren 1983). 93 Schippmann’s work gives a very good synopsis of the state of the ﬁeld in Parthian studies. Schippmann 1980; Schippmann 2005. Disregarding conventional practice, mention also should be made of an electronic resource, parthia.com, whose authors have done an admirable job of presenting a bibliographic survey of works on Parthian history. 94 Archaeological investigations have unearthed three major cultures, belonging to the late Bronze Age (circa 3500–1450 BCE), in southern Turkmenistan: 1) The Dihist¯n culture in western Turka menistan, belonging to 1200–650 BCE, takes its name from the Dahae, who at some point lived in the region. Settlements ranging from one to ﬁfty acres and extensive irrigation networks testify to a centralized rule. The question of whether or not this culture belonged to the Dahae, however, has polarized scholarship. Wolski, basing himself on classical sources, argues that the Dahae only migrated to this region in the third century BCE. In opposition to him, I. N. Chlopin has argued that the Dahae had always lived in the eastern regions of the Caspian Sea, in ancient Hyrcania, and that archaeological investigations in this area do not give any evidence of an aggressive inroad of nomadic populations in the third century BCE. This culture, argues Chlopin, does in fact belong to the Dahae; 2) The second culture, sometimes called the Namazga VI culture, was found at the base of the Kopet D¯gh mountains. Extensive settlements, some as large as 70 acres, have been found a here as well. The chronology of this culture has been traced to the third and second millennium BCE. It has been argued that, with intermittent periods of decline, this culture reached its height in the seventh to the fourth centuries BCE; 3) Finally, there was the culture of the Murgh¯b, belonging a to 1500–1200 BCE. Over all, according to Schippman, we can now propose that prior to the ﬁrst millennium BCE, and in the case of Dihist¯n even prior to this, large political confederations did a exist in Dihist¯n and neighboring territories. Extensive irrigation networks, enclosed fortresses and a settlements, as well as the emergence of iron, all testify to the fact that these three cultures developed on a comparable basis, although the details of their connection to one another is not yet clear. Schippmann 1980, pp. 78–81, Schippmann 2005, pp. 98–100.

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§1.1: T HE A RSACIDS C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES

protection of the frontier territories in Central Asia and Caucasia, even Rome would have suffered under the pressure of nomadic populations in these sensitive corridors of the East. In art, architecture,95 and even traditions of rule, the Parthian contributions to subsequent Iranian culture and to the cultural traditions of the region as a whole are being gradually and increasingly established— albeit at a snail’s pace—by scholarship. There is much that remains unclear about this era of Iranian history.96 One of the least investigated dimensions of the Parthian cultural contribution to posterity, for example, is the impact they made on the religions of the Near East and the Mediterranean world.97 A discussion of the state-of-the-ﬁeld in Parthian studies is beyond the scopes of the present study and the reader is urged to look elsewhere for this.98 By way of background, however, some preliminary notes about the political and social structure of Parthian rule and their role in preserving and disseminating Iranian national history must be given. Political organization of the Parthian empire As mentioned, the Arsacids were only one of the families of the collectivity that we have come to know as Parthians, namely, the ruling family that had assumed power with the coronation of Arsaces I. There were besides these other, important, Parthian (Pahlav) families, who exerted tremendous power throughout the Arsacid period. Traditionally, it is said that there were seven of these, although this is most likely legendary. As it stands, besides signiﬁcant, yet disjointed, sets of information, the details of the histories of these other Parthian families during the Arsacid period escape our knowledge. In fact, a substantial part of the information that we do have on these families pertains not to their histories during the Arsacid period, but to their saga among the Sasanians. This book is partly an account of this latter history. What little we do know about these Parthian families during the Arsacid period relates to the later period of Arsacid history. Based on these, some have argued that the Parthian families’ participation in Arsacid history had rendered the sociopolitical and economic structures of the Arsacids feudal. As Schippmann, Neusner, and others have observed, however, the matter is not so simple.99 The problem, once again, pertains to the question of sources for Arsacid history. The dearth of sources for the early Arsacid period has been debilitating
95 See, among others, Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh, Hillenbrand, Robert, and Rogers, J.M., The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Persia: New Light on the Parthian and Sasanian Empires, British Institute of Persian Studies, London, 1998 (Curtis et al. 1998). 96 Fortunately during the past decade a thorough investigation of the Parthian numismatic and political history has been undertaken by Farhad Assar. The scholarly community eagerly awaits the publication of his results, as well as the volume covering the Parthian period of the History of Zoroastrianism by Frantz Grenet and the late Mary Boyce. 97 The growth and spread of Mithraism in the Roman empire took place, after all, during the Parthian period. In a subsequent study, the author hopes to contribute to this topic. 98 For a summary bibliography, see footnote 84. 99 Schippmann 1980, pp. 81–89, especially p. 88–89, Schippmann 2005, pp. 100–107; Neusner 1963.

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100 Schippmann 101 Schippmann

1980, pp. 81–88; Schippmann 2005, pp. 100–107. 1980, pp. 100–106; Schippmann 2005. 102 Neusner seems to accept the nomadic background of the Dahae. 103 Neusner 1963, p. 43.

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for scholarship. Here we are in the realm of conjectural history. Schippman provides one scenario for this: after his coronation, Arsaces I, as the commander of a small army, at once found himself sovereign not only over the Parni, but also over the population living in the conquered territories. Arsaces had to exert, therefore, all his efforts during this period toward strengthening his rule. His coronation in Asaak, the establishment of this as the beginning of the Arsacid calendar, and the minting of coinage bearing Arsaces’ efﬁgy, are all evidence of measures taken by the king toward solidifying his rule in these territories. Already during this early period, however, we hear of a small number of powerful vassals, vassals who controlled extensive tracts of land and ruled over provinces next to the king. The lands under the control of these families were hereditary. From the rule of Mithradates I (171–138 BCE) onward, especially during the reign of Mithradates II (123–88 BCE), and in the wake of the extensive Parthian conquests in the west and the incorporation of the western city-states into their domains, we witness an imperial structure of rule developing within Parthian territories. The power and strength of the nobility, however, continued and, in fact, seems to have increased from then on. From the ﬁrst century BCE onward, therefore, there seems to be clear evidence that the power of these families vis-à-vis the king was growing.100 The nature of the political and economic structure of the Parthian state has thus raised two central questions in Parthian studies: 1) whether the selection of the king was effected through a council of nobility, a senatus or mahist¯n, a or was based on the concept of hereditary kingship; and related to this, 2) the extent to which we can speak of a feudal structure when studying Parthian history. To begin with the ﬁrst, we have evidence for the existence of such an executive body for some periods of Arsacid history, and we therefore presume its continued existence throughout. Our evidence also suggests that during the early period, that is, prior to the ﬁrst century BCE, the power of the Arsacid king far outweighed the power of the nobility.101 The increasing power of the Parthian families in the late Arsacid period seems to be reﬂected in Arsacid political ideology, as we can reconstruct these from sources. Basing himself on the accounts given by Strabo (64/63 BCE–21 CE) and Justinus’ epitome of Pompeius Trogus’ Historiae Philippicae, which was probably written in the third century, Jacob Neusner argues that the conditions of a conquering people who established hegemony by force of arms102 is reﬂected in the realities of the early Arsacid state, which “was governed by a king and a council, and was apparently centralized to some degree.” This state of affairs reﬂects conditions up to the ﬁrst century BCE.103 This then was a “feudal, but still centralized state, in which authority rested in the hands of a king, the royal family, priesthood, and a council of powerful nobles.” As the earliest coins

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§1.1: T HE A RSACIDS C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES

of the Arsacids, which mostly lack any honoriﬁcs, bear witness, such a state “would have considered itself legitimate by force of arms, requiring no further political authority to explain its authority.”104 Once we turn to the accounts of Flavius Arrianus of the second century CE, and consider the numismatic evidence of later Arsacid history, however, we realize that the political ideology of the Arsacids had undergone a transformation, incorporating in the process an important dimension into their claim for legitimacy: the Arsacids now claimed an Achaemenid genealogy. This claim, Neusner argues, was not advanced by the Arsacids before the end of the second century BCE. From then on, however, Arsacid co-option of Achaemenid heritage is evidenced not only in their coins, which bear the title King of Kings (sh¯h¯nsh¯h), but also by their use in a a a writing of Pahlavi side-by-side of Greek as well as other symbolic associations that they sought to make with ancient Iranian rule and the Achaemenids.105 Neusner believes that this change in Arsacid political ideology was a reﬂection of the changing fortunes of the dynasty. Initially instigated by the victories of the Parthians in the course of the ﬁrst century, victories which recalled “the glories of Achaemenid Persia,” the change in Arsacid political ideology was thereafter sustained when, by the end of the ﬁrst century BCE, “the powerful [Parthian] armies and government . . . fell apart . . . and the fundamental weakness of Arsacid rule became evident.”106 From then on the power of the nobility increased, while the strength of the state in the face of external enemies decreased. In view of this, there was a greater need for the state to continue to emphasize its legitimacy by resorting to extra-Parthian, ancient Iranian traditions of rule and hegemony.107 At this point, according to Neusner, a “feudal theory was required, which unlike an étatiste one, made a great matter out of original legitimacy, pure lineage, and proper succession of the monarch.”108 Who were the Parthian feudal families exerting such power throughout Arsacid history? An impressionistic and romanticized account of the provenance of the Parthian families, an origins myth, is preserved for us in the accounts of the Armenian historian Moses Khorenats‘i.109 The Arsacid king, Phraat IV ¯ (circa 38–2 BCE), relates Khorenats‘i, had three sons and a daughter: Artash¯s e (Artaxerxes), K¯rin, S¯ren, and Koshm, respectively. The ﬁrst son became the a u successor to his father and ruled as Phraat V (circa 2 BCE–4 CE).110 The other two sons became the progenitors of the houses bearing their name, namely, the K¯rins and the S¯rens. Koshm married a “general of all Iranians” after whom a u

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1963, p. 44. 1963, pp. 45–47. 106 Neusner 1963, p. 51. 107 Neusner 1963, p. 57. 108 Neusner 1963, pp. 50–58. 109 For a critical account of Khorenats‘i and his work, which Thomson dates to the “ﬁrst decades of Abbasid control over Armenia,” see the introduction by Thomson, pp. 1–63, here p. 60, in Khorenats i, Moses, Moses Khorenats‘i: History of the Armenians, Harvard University Press, 1978, translated by Robert W. Thomson (Khorenats i 1978). 110 Also known as Phraataces.
105 Neusner

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104 Neusner

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C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES §1.2: AGNATIC FAMILIES

his progeny “bore the title of Aspahpet Pahlav,”111 the family who later came to be known as the Ispahbudh¯n family. This account is, doubtless, mythic. For, a as Christensen argues, the existence of these families as great feudal nobility is established long prior to the periodization provided by Khorenats‘i.112 Unfortunately, we have little more than myths to go by for reconstructing the details of the histories of these families during the Parthian period itself.113 It is suggested that these Parthian families considered the Arsacids only as primus inter pares, ﬁrst among equals.114 As a collectivity, these families had agreed to Arsacid rule for a substantial period of their history. Evidence seems to suggest, moreover, that this was increasingly not the case in the last century of Arsacid history, during which period internal struggles beset the dynasty. It was at the end of this period of inter-Parthian rivalry, during the early third century, that from Pers¯ the land of the P¯rs¯ the forebears of the Sasanians ıs, a ıg, rose. Our study traces the relationship of the various Parthian families, the Pahlav, with the Sasanians, the P¯rs¯ Before we embark, a ﬁnal word needs to a ıg. be said about the nature of the Iranian family structure.

1.2

Agnatic families

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1978, p. 166. 1944, p. 104, n. 1. 113 Hopefully, the work of Assar will shed light on this. 114 Although recently this too seems to have been the subject of some debate. 115 Unless otherwise noted, the following discussion is indebted to Perikhanian, A., ‘Iranian Society and Law’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 627–681, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Perikhanian 1983).
112 Christensen

111 Khorenats i

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From well before the Arsacid times, the family had been the primary unit of Iranian society.115 A host of social constructs and restrictions bound the Iranian family together. Besides a strict system of rights and obligations, the family was also cemented together by important social customs and economic systems. The family shared worship that was structured around the “domestic altar and the cult of the souls of ancestors on the father’s side,” as well as speciﬁc religious rites. The family owned property as a collectivity. And, ﬁnally, the family engaged in common activities in production and consumption of resources. The life of the individual within the family, in other words, was bound to the latter by a network that reinforced itself on multiple levels, continuously. Both the small and extended families, designated respectively by the terms d¯tak (literally smoke) and katak (house), consisted of “a group of agnates limu ited to three or four generations counting in descending order from the head of the family.” The crucial concept, however, is the agnatic group. For, whether small or extended, the family itself was only a nucleus that functioned within a larger network of a community of kinsmen, the “agnatic group.” As Perikhanian observes, the agnatic group, referred to in the Parthian and Sasanian society

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§1.2: AGNATIC FAMILIES C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES

as n¯f (family), t¯khm (seed), and g¯har (substance, essence, lineage),116 the two a o o latter terms, incidentally, permeating the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ “was the most a a ı, important structure within the civic community, replacing the earlier clan and tribal systems.”117 In its simplest form the agnatic group included several dozen extended families who deﬁned themselves based on their lineage from a common ancestor from the father’s side three or four generations down the line. In terms of the social and organizational patterns, perhaps the most important consideration to keep in mind is the impact of the agnatic group on Iranian society. According to Perikhanian, the agnatic group entailed a “(1) community of economic life, (2) solidarity in obligations, (3) community of political life, (4) territorial community.”118 While with the growth of the family as a social unit, property rights eventually came to accrue to the individual families, furthermore, “the agnatic group continued to retain latent rights over the possession of all families forming part of the group.”119 The characteristics of the agnatic social structure of the society under investigation here will be of crucial importance to the crux of the present investigation. When discussing the power of the dynastic120 families over the population living in their domains during the Sasanian period, it will be important to bear in mind, for example, that “the larger group also retained collective ownership of the common pastures, mills, irrigation works, farm buildings and so on.”121 Community of worship was also closely controlled by one’s agnatic group. The rites of passage of a youth into adulthood were celebrated by solemn ceremonies in the presence of the agnates. Other important ceremonies, such as marriages and juridical acts, equally required the presence of adult members of the agnatic group.122 By far, one of the most crucial characteristics of the agnatic group for our purposes, however, is the fact that each agnatic group constituted a territorial unit. Members of an agnatic group, in other words, lived in the conﬁnes of one and the same territory. Modern ethnographic studies of Iran, where whole villages are sometimes made up of kinsmen, corroborate the tremendous continuity of this aspect of the agnatic group in Iranian society. The speciﬁc features of the agnatic group in Iran had important socio-cultural and political ramiﬁcations. Insofar as the religious panorama of Iran was concerned, for example, and in light of the diversity of the religious landscape in the region,123 community of worship would have probably meant that religious diversity in Iran had a local dimension to it. As we shall see, semi-regional or

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116 MacKenzie, D.N., A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1971 (MacKenzie 1971). 117 Perikhanian 1983, p. 642. 118 Perikhanian 1983, p. 643. 119 “In a large family, the undivided brothers had only theoretical shares . . . and were from the legal standpoint partners.” Perikhanian 1983, p. 642 120 For a discussion of the notion of dynasticism, see §2.1.2 below. 121 Perikhanian 1983, p. 643. 122 Perikhanian 1983, p. 644. 123 See Chapter 5, especially §5.4.

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C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES §1.2: AGNATIC FAMILIES

regional communities had access not only to local religious traditions and lore, but also to their local forms of worship.124 As Perikhanian observes, it was membership in an agnatic group that determined not only one’s legal capacity as a citizen, which in the Pahlavi legal terminology was rendered by the term ¯z¯t,125 but also one’s membership in a a one of the estates of the nobility. Among these latter were the agnatic or dynastic families, who held the most prestigious places in the hierarchical Sasanian societal structure. Their local power bases set aside, we know that to the dynastic families, by virtue of their birth, also accrued privileges in the empire’s administration. With proper agnatic ties, in other words, came political power. Membership in a noble agnatic group, therefore, gave “one access to appointment to any state or court ofﬁce of importance.” In the administrative public law documents, the word ¯z¯t is, in fact, “used in the sense of member of an a a agnatic group of nobility, representative of the noble estate, noblemen.”126 Perhaps even more important for our purposes is Perikhanian’s observation that certain “ofﬁces even became, with the passing of time, hereditary in a particular group, and that branch of the clan which had acquired preferential right to hold a given ofﬁce could take the title of this ofﬁce as the basis of its gentilitial name.” The classic articulation of this, depicting the Parthian agnatic families, is found in Simocatta’s narrative which, while formulaic and articulating an idealized rendition of Sasanian sociopolitical structure, nevertheless, encapsulates the realities of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy. Simocatta here quotes a “certain Babylonian, a sacred ofﬁcial who had gained very great experience in the composition of royal epistles,” as maintaining the following: “For seven peoples among the Medes, allocated by ancient law, perform the sagacious and most honoured of their actions; and he [i.e., the sacred ofﬁcial] stated that the procedures could not be otherwise; and they say that the people entitled Arsacid hold the kingship and these place the diadem on the king, another is in charge of the military disposition, another is invested with the cares of state, another resolves the differences of those who have some dispute and need an arbitrator, the ﬁfth commands the cavalry, the next levies taxes on subjects and is overseer of the royal treasuries, the seventh is appointed custodian of arms and military uniforms.” This Simocatta claims, had been established since the time of “Darius [III (380–330 BCE)] the son of Hydaspes.”127

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124 The growth of regional traditions which, according to Boyce, sought to co-opt the homeland of Zoroaster into their own cultural milieu was only one of the consequences of this; see page 321ff. 125 Zakeri, Mohsen, Sasanid Soldiers in Early Muslim Society: the Origins of Ayy¯r¯n and Futuwwa, aa Wiesbaden, 1995 (Zakeri 1995), passim. 126 Perikhanian 1983, p. 645. It is to be noted incidentally that this terminology is also replete in the Sh¯hn¯ma, especially when referring to the court nobility. a a 127 Simocatta, The History of Theophylact Simocatta, Oxford, 1986, English translation with introduction and notes by Michael and Mary Whitby (Simocatta 1986), p. 101. As we shall see, the fact that Simocatta diverges into this exposition when discussing the genealogy of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ is a u ın particularly signiﬁcant in the context of our study (see §6.1).

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§1.2: AGNATIC FAMILIES C HAPTER 1: P RELIMINARIES

The Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta wrote in the early seventh century, during the reign of Heraclius (610–641).128 His History, which covers the reign of the Emperor Maurice (582–602), is therefore not an eyewitness account. According to Simocatta’s editors, when giving the above passage, the “rare mention by Theophylact of an oral source may refer to a Persian ambassador to Constantinople during Heraclius’ reign.”129 If this is the case, then the germ of the tradition that he gives concerning the Parthian dynastic power in late Sasanian history must nevertheless be very valid. It is the dynamic of this Sasanian–Parthian relationship that we shall seek to disentangle as we proceed.

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128 For a discussion of the life of Simocatta and the sources on which he based his history, see Simocatta 1986, pp. xiii–xxviii. 129 Simocatta 1986, p. 101, n. 87.

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Part I

Political History

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CHAPTER 2

Sasanian polity revisited: the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy

able propagandists. They obliterate the G be incrediblyfoes, the Arsacids (247 attempted),tothrough, amonghistory of their defeated –224 other
BCE CE

radually and in the course of their long history, the Sasanians learned to

exertions, a recalculation of the Parthian rule to half of its actual duration.130 They endeavored to connect their rather humble origins to remote antiquity.131 They envisioned and tried to implement the clerical–monarchical cooperation as the pillar of their polity, and to fuse the national and religious traditions in the service of a political agenda.132 And they attempted to subsume—and at
130 Based on astrological calculations in vogue, and in order to make their rise coincide with the dawn of a new millennium, the Sasanians recalculated Arsacid rule from 474 to 266 (or 260) years. For a detailed investigation of this see, Shahbazi 1990. 131 Broadly speaking, the Iranian national tradition divides the history of the Iranians into four periods: (1) the P¯ ad¯ “the early kings who ruled over the world and contributed to the progress ıshd¯ ıs, of civilization by their teachings and institution;” (2) the Kay¯nids (Kay¯n¯ an), “who were the a a ıy¯ kings of Iran proper and who were in continual conﬂict with their neighbors, the T¯r¯nians” (see ua also page 385ff); (3) the Ashk¯n¯ (Arsacids), “who headed a feudal system and allegedly presided a ıs over the dark ages of Iranian history” (see also §1.1); and (4) the S¯s¯n¯ (Sasanians). Yarshater a a ıs 1983b, p. 366. As we shall see on page 385ff, the Sasanians eventually connected their ancestry to the Kay¯nids. For an extensive assessment of Iranian national history also see Nöldeke, Theodore, a The Iranian National Epic, Philadelphia, 1979, translated by L. Bogdanov (Nöldeke 1979); Yarshater 1983b, especially pp. 386–87; Gnoli, Gherarldo, The Idea of Iran, Rome, 1989 (Gnoli 1989), passim, especially pp. 122–123; Yarshater, Ehsan, ‘Were the Sasanians Heirs to the Achaemenids?’, in La Persia Nel Medioevo, pp. 517–531, Rome, 1971 (Yarshater 1971); and Daryaee, Touraj, ‘National History or Kayanid History?: The Nature of Sasanid Zoroastrian Historiography’, Iranian Studies 28, (1995), pp. 129–141 (Daryaee 1995). 132 The very “concept of Er¯nshahr . . . was an integral part of the politico-religious propaganda of ¯ a the early Sasanians . . . which linked the destiny of the Iranian nation to that of the Mazdean religion of the mobeds.” Gnoli has, systematically and convincingly, traced the origins of the fusion of the national tradition with the religious tradition to the pre-Avestan period. The coalescence of the national and religious traditions of Iran, therefore, has an ancient history that harks back to remote antiquity, and was not an innovation of the Sasanians. As we shall see below, however, and as Gnoli himself argues, the systematic formulation of a worldview which depicted the state and the church as the two pillars of government, and the use of this for political propaganda and as an ideology, was a legacy of the Sasanians (see §5.2.1). The development of Mazdaism into a state church through “successive redaction of the sacred texts by means of selection and censorship,” the establishment of a doctrinal and liturgic orthodoxy, the development of an ofﬁcial chronology, and the deﬁnite

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS times aspired to subordinate—a multifarious Iranian religious landscape under the aegis of an orthodox Zoroastrian system of belief and a controlled and hierarchical religious structure. In retrospect, the propagandistic efforts of the Sasanians were incredibly successful. Their crowning achievement in this direction was surely their patronage and promulgation of an ofﬁcial historiography, a feat hitherto unprecedented in the annals of pre-Islamic Iran, although perhaps in tune with historical processes current in the Mediterranean world by the third century. Setting aside for the moment other instruments pertaining to material culture for effecting political propaganda, such as inscriptions and coinage, the Sasanians were unique in that the ﬁrst ofﬁcial history of Iran was written under their auspices. The importance of the above observation cannot be taken lightly. Most of the other efforts of the dynasty in promulgating and sustaining a political ideology, enumerated above, were subsumed under, written into, and articulated through this same ofﬁcial history. And so the Sasanians were successful in leaving to posterity an image of their fascinating story in the corpus that has come to be known as the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, or the Book of Kings.133 a a But it is surely not incidental that the most concerted efforts of the dynasty in the writing and rewriting of its history took place at junctures when it experienced acute crises in its history, as in the revolt of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın (590–591), when the last effective Sasanian king, Khusrow II Parv¯ (591–628), ız inherited a fragmented realm as his legacy.134 Already by the time of Bahr¯m a V G¯r (420–438), we have evidence of the Book of Kings, and by the time of u Khusrow I (531–579), “the history of ancient Iran was deﬁnitely compiled.” It was under Khusrow II, however, when “much new material was added to the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, and this then became the source of all early Islamic histories on a a ancient Iran.” According to J¯hiz, when Khusrow II asked his paladin whether a. he knew of anyone more heroic than himself, the latter replied with a narrative of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Furious, the king made sure that the tale did not appear a u ın. in the Book of Kings. In the context of the late Shahbazi’s disagreement with Nöldeke concerning the date of the compilation of this national history,135 we should note that the historical information about the Sasanians begins to take ﬂesh by the mid-ﬁfth century, during the reigns of Yazdgird II (438–457) and P¯ uz (459–484). As we shall see,136 these were also junctures in which the ır¯
“demonization of the ﬁgure of Alexander . . . [as part] of the political and religious propaganda of the new dynasty,” all of these processes are thought to have begun in the third century. Gnoli 1989, pp. 152, 140, 151. For the history of the demonization of the ﬁgure of Alexander in Iran, one of the ﬁrst articulations of which can be found in Book IV of The Sibylline Oracles, where the author prophesies the death of Alexander “at the hands of coming Oriental successors of the Achaemenids on account of his injustice and cruelty,” see Eddy, Samuel K., The King is Dead: Studies in the Near Eastern Resistance to Hellenism 334–31 B.C., University of Nebraska Press, 1961 (Eddy 1961). Eddy dates The Sibylline Oracles to 325 BCE, Eddy 1961, pp. 10–14. 133 Shahbazi 1990. For a further discussion of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, see page 171ff. a a 134 For Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a u ın’s revolt, see §2.6.3 below. 135 Shahbazi 1990, pp. 213–215 and p. 226, n. 52; Nöldeke 1979, p. 9. 136 See §2.2.4, §2.3, and page 380 below.

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS Sasanians experienced acute crises. This then remains an important caveat to the Sasanian efforts at writing their history: they seem to have embarked upon it in an hour of need and at a time when their desire to create a hegemonic polity was forcefully questioned by forces that, as we shall see shortly, had agreed upon a partnership with the Sasanian, namely the Parthian dynastic137 families. The belated effort of the Sasanians at representing their realm and their history proved successful. It remains one of our most basic founts for reconstructing the Sasanian history of Iran with any degree of certainty. It portrays the Sasanians from a legitimist, monarchical perspective. It sanctiﬁes, naturally, the Sasanians’ view of themselves as a centralized and benevolent hegemonic polity. And, in view of what seems to have been the wholesale destruction of this corpus in its original Pahlavi renditions, and through the process of translation, this history was adopted in toto by classical Islamic history, a historiography through which, besides the Persian Sh¯hn¯ma-genre, including the magnum a a opus of Ferdows¯ 138 we have reconstructed the dynasty’s history. Ironically, the ı, legitimistic bent of Sasanian historiography suited the purposes of a nascent Islamic caliphate admirably. Islamic historiography not only faithfully retained the legitimist monarchical tradition of Sasanian history in its transmission of this history, but highlighted this very dimension of it.139 As Gutas has brilliantly argued, the Abb¯sids considered their polity direct heir to that of the a Sasanians. The Sasanian imperial ideology, with its emphasis on a centralized, semi-theocratic polity, furnished the nascent Abb¯sid regime with a normative a model based on which it would depict the nature of its own polity.140 One of the crucial dimensions of the Sasanian patronage of the Xw ad¯ya N¯mag tradition, in turn, was that it had come to subsume an east-Iranian a tradition.141 Whether this process had already been effected during the Arsacid
the term dynasticism, see §2.1.2. D., Ham¯sih Sar¯y¯ dar Ir¯n, Tehran, 1945 (Safa 1945), p. 93; Qazvini, Muhammad, a a ı a . ‘Muqaddamih-i Qad¯m-i Sh¯hn¯ma’, in Abbas Iqbal and Ustad Purdavud (eds.), B¯st Maqalih-i Qazv¯ı a a ı ı n¯, 1984 (Qazvini 1984), p. 16; Yarshater 1983b, pp. 359–363. ı 139 This historiography was produced during the Abb¯sid period and the nature of the Abb¯sid a a political ideology was very different from that of the Umayyads. The Abb¯sids became the direct a heirs to the Sasanian political ideology with its emphasis on the twin pillar aspect of government. Gutas, Dimitri, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society (2nd–4th/8th–10th Centuries), London, 1998 (Gutas 1998). But see also Crone, Patricia, God’s Caliph: Religious Authority in the First Centuries of Islam, Cambridge University Press, 1986 (Crone 1986), and Goldziher, ‘Islam et Parsism’, in Religion of the Iranian Peoples, Bombay, 1912, translated by Nariman (Goldziher 1912), quoted in Sadighi, Ghulam Husayn, Les mouvements réligieux Iraniens au IIe et au IIIe siècle de l’hégire, Paris, 1938 (Sadighi 1938), p. 118. 140 In the Annals of Tabar¯ the legitimistic and centrist portrayal of the Sasanian kings and their ı, . polity can be fruitfully compared with the representation of the Abb¯sids and their conception a of the caliphate. The sort of detailed narratives, moreover, that we get in the Islamic historical tradition on the fall of Ctesiphon, the emphasis of this tradition on the battle of Q¯disiya and the a battle of Nih¯vand, and the rendition of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an as the typologically ideal monarch, a ırv¯ all bespeak the preoccupation of the Islamic historiographical tradition with the Sasanian imperial tradition, co-opting an imperial tradition, which, providentially, had ceased to exist. 141 Eddy 1961, pp. 3–80, here p. 80.
138 Safa, 137 For

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS period, or whether it was under the patronage of the Sasanians that it took shape,142 it is certain that the Sasanians became heir to the traditions of Pers¯ ıs, the region from which they themselves had risen and which had been the cradle of the Achaemenids. Ever since the rise of the Arsacids,143 however, the Pers¯ ıs (P¯rs¯ as we shall see below,144 had not only clearly distinguished themselves a ıg), from the Parthians (Pahlav), but had adopted a very hostile attitude to the newly rising power of Parthava in the east. This trend was continued in the political ideology of the Sasanians. During the Sasanian period, the geographical term Pahlav (Parthia, Parthava) referred to an extensive territory that was bounded in the east by Gurg¯n, in the north by the Caspian Sea, and in the southwest by a ¯ ı, the region between Khuzist¯n and Media.145 Mas ud¯ quoting the Nabateans, a claims that the P¯rs¯ were in “F¯rs . . . [whereas] M¯h¯t146 and other regions a ıg a a a were Pahlav territories.”147 So while the patronage of the national Iranian historiography during the Sasanian period had the unprecedented effect of concocting a linear history with a remarkable degree of continuity—a history that ran from the ﬁrst humanking, Kay¯marth, to the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III (632–651), through the u paradigmatic model of kingship—the tensions inherent in this juxtaposition of the traditions of Pers¯ with those of Parthava continued to inform the national ıs Iranian tradition that was promulgated by the Sasanians. This conﬂictual relationship can best be seen in the uneasy correspondence that exists between the kingly and heroic traditions contained within the national Iranian tradition.148 The present study, however, is not a literary investigation of the Iranian national tradition. Nor shall we attempt to give a theoretical assessment of this relationship. For it has long been recognized that a substantial portion of the Iranian national tradition, above all the heroic elements of this tradition, were
142 For the debate over whether this eastern Iranian tradition was spread to the west by the Parthians, as argued by Yarshater, or whether it remained conﬁned to the east and was incorporated into the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition through the auspices of the Sasanians, see Yarshater 1983b, pp. 388– a a 391; Christensen, Arthur, The Kayanians, Bombay, 1993a, translated by F. N. Tumboowalla (Christensen 1993a), pp. 39–41. 143 See §1.1. 144 See §5.3.3. 145 Gyselen, Rika, La géographie administrative de l’empire Sassanide: Les témoignages sigillographiques, vol. I of Res Orientales, Paris, 1989 (Gyselen 1989), p. 73. Also see Bivar 1983, pp. 24–27. 146 M¯h¯t (M¯h¯n, M¯hayn) were the names given by the Arabs to the two districts of Nih¯vand a a a a a a and D¯ ınawar in Media. Although some Arab sources claim that M¯h is the Middle Persian term a for city, it more likely stands for Media (M¯d). According to the Islamic tradition, Nih¯vand was a a conquered by the forces of Basrah and D¯ ınawar by those of K¯fa. Thereafter the regions came to u . be called M¯h al-Basrah and M¯h al-K¯fa, respectively. a a u . 147 Mas ud¯ Al¯ b. Husayn, al-Tanb¯h wa ’l-Ashr¯f, Beirut, 1965, edited by V.R. Baron Rosen ¯ ı, ı ı a . ¯ ı (Mas ud¯ 1965), p. 37:
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148 One of the best efforts at disentangling this relationship is that of Davis, Dick, Epic and Sedition:

The Case of Ferdowsi’s Sh¯hn¯meh, University of Arkansas Press, 1992 (Davis 1992). a a

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in fact sustained, elaborated, and promoted under the patronage of the Parthian families, not only during the Parthian period but, more importantly, during the Sasanian period.149 Try as they may, therefore, to obliterate the annals of the Arsacids from the pages of their history, the Sasanians were never successful in obliterating the traditions which they inherited from the Parthians, neither in their historical writing nor in the historical reality of their four centuries long rule in Iranian history. A vivid, constant reminder of the Parthian heritage infused, perforce, the very polity that the Sasanians had constructed. For as we shall argue in this chapter, in spite of the sporadic attempts of the Sasanians to leash the centrifugal forces of the Parthian dynastic families who continued to hold tremendous power in their domains, they were never successful in ridding themselves of their inﬂuence. In fact, had it not been for the cooperation, what in this study we have termed the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy, that the Sasanians established with the Parthian dynastic families of their domain, they could never have sustained their rule for as long as they did.

2.1

Sasanians / Arsacids

The Sasanian tradition of rule owed a great deal to the Parthians. It is generally recognized that through a substantial part of their history the Arsacids ruled through a decentralized system of government the backbone of which was the feudal150 nobility. Heir to the heritage of the Achaemenids and the Seleucids, the administrative and social structure of the Arsacid empire was a heterogeneous medley: there was ﬁrst the predominantly Semitic, and substantially urbanized Mesopotamia; independent states in Mesopotamia and other Iranian frontiers; and ﬁnally the social and political conditions existing in the heartland of Parthia, the east and northeast of Iran.151 In the middle of the ﬁrst century CE, even the Romans recognized the decentralized nature of the Arsacid administration, Pliny counting as eighteen the number of kingdoms that comprised the Parthian polity.152 While a centrist perspective continues to inform our view of the Sasanian polity, a very cursory examination of the Sasanian social and economic infrastructure suggests that the above picture was not substantially changed under the Sasanians. The centrist depiction of Sasanian polity highlights the Sasanian efforts in assuming direct control of the provinces through the creation of

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1993a, pp. 127–129; Nöldeke 1979, pp. 12–14. term feudal and its attendant economic and political structures in the Iranian context have been the subject of much debate. It is used in this study for lack of a better term. The present author follows the analysis of the term by Toumanoff discussed in §2.1.2, although she disagrees with his conclusions regarding Sasanian Iran; see page 55. Also see Frye, Richard N., ‘Feudalism in Iran’, Jerulasem Studies in Arabic Islam 9, (1987), pp. 13–18 (Frye 1987); Widengren, Geo, Der Feudalismus im alten Iran, Cologne, 1969 (Widengren 1969). 151 Lukonin 1983, p. 714. 152 Lukonin 1983, p. 728. For a more detailed discussion, see page 24ff.
150 The

149 Christensen

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kingly cities beginning in the third century CE153 One theory explains the background to this process:154 Ancient cities in the east had for a long time operated on the basis of slavery and were run by temple priests and city councils that had substantial land under their control. During the Hellenistic period these cities were granted self-rule as a polis. The Hellenistic kingdoms relied on these semi-independent cities in order to run their realms. These kinds of cities were the instrument for implementing the policies of Hellenistic dynasties and were required to give part of the income from their vast lands to the central treasury. Besides these, the Hellenistic kingdoms also created new cities, poleis, in the east. In the third century, as a result of broader economic transformations, the slave basis of the economy of these cities was disrupted and the inﬂuence of kings increased. The Sasanians, who took over Mesopotamia, had as one of their aims the incorporation of this region into their dastgirds as kingly cities.155 When a city was turned into a kingly city, its affairs were put under the king’s representative (shahrab, governor),156 the city itself thus becoming a pillar of kingly authority.157 So, as Lukonin notes, while Ardash¯ I (224–241) was only ır able to create two such cities, Veh Ardash¯ and Ardash¯ Khurrah, with two ır ır shahrabs included in the list of his court nobility, by Sh¯p¯r I’s (241–272) rule a u there were ﬁfteen such shahrabs mentioned in the inscriptions of the Ka ba-i Zartusht.158 What needs to be highlighted when considering the centralizing efforts of the early Sasanian kings, however, is that by far the most systematic focus of their efforts in this direction was in the west and southwestern parts of their domains, especially in the core regions of Sasanian power in F¯rs and a Mesopotamia. Compared to the rigor of their urban construction activity in the west during their long reign, very few cities were constructed by the Sasanians in the non-western parts of their domains. Pigulevskaja’s study159 conﬁrms that the Sasanians’ efforts at urbanization and urban construction were
153 Lukonin, V.G., Tamaddun-i Ir¯n-i S¯s¯n¯: Ir¯n dar Sadih-h¯-i Sivvum t¯ Panjum-i Mil¯d¯, ¯a aa ı ¯a a a a ı Tehran, 1986, translation of Lukonin 1969 by Inayat Allah Riza (Lukonin 1986), p. 101. 154 Pigulevskaja, Nina, Les villes de l’état Iranien aux époques Parthe et Sassanide, Paris, 1963 (Pigulevskaja 1963), passim. 155 Dastgird, from Avestan dasta-k˙ta, “made by hand, handiwork, a term originally designating a r royal or seigneurial estate.” Gignoux, Philippe, ‘Dastgerd’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007b (Gignoux 2007b). 156 See glossary. 157 Lukonin 1986, p. 101–102. 158 The Ka ba-i Zartusht is an Achaemenid structure at Naqsh-i Rustam in F¯rs, on which a series a of trilingual inscriptions were later carved by the Sasanian king Sh¯p¯r I; usually cited as ŠKZ. a u Gignoux, Philippe, ‘Middle Persian Inscriptions’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 1205–1216, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Gignoux 1983), pp. 1207–1208; Huyse, Philip, ‘Die dreisprachige Inschrift Shâbuhrs I an der Ka‘ba-i Zardusht’, in Pahlavi Inscriptions, vol. 3 of Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum, 1999a (Huyse 1999a); Lukonin 1986, pp. 102–103. 159 Pigulevskaja 1963.

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concentrated in F¯rs and Mesopotamia, the latter of which had a long history a of urbanization harking back to the ancient period. While Pigulevskaja conclusions were reached based on evidence provided for the western regions of Iran, therefore, they do in fact reﬂect the reality of urban construction, and by extension Sasanian efforts at centralization, throughout their realm. The most forceful evidence for Sasanian lack of interest in urban construction, or perhaps their economic and sociopolitical inability to undertake such construction, in non-western parts of their domain, can be found in the Middle Persian ¯a text Shahrest¯n¯ha-¯ Er¯nshahr (or, Provincial Capitals of Er¯nshahr).160 Coma ı ı ¯a posed under the patronage of the Sasanians themselves, the text describes the foundation histories of various cities in Iran. While the ﬁnal redaction of the Shahrest¯n¯ha-¯ Er¯nshahr dates back to the a ı ı¯a Abb¯sid period (late eighth century), it was probably originally composed in a the sixth century, sometime during the reigns of Qub¯d (488–531),161 Khusa row I (531–579), or Khusrow II (590–628),162 a period when the Sasanians had ﬁnally exhausted most of their construction activities. Even a cursory examination of the list of cities in the Shahrest¯n¯ha-¯ Er¯nshahr and the foundation a ı ı ¯a myths and histories attributed to them reveals a striking fact: of the twentythree cities listed in the territories comprising the quarters (k¯sts)163 of the east u (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n), north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n164 ), and south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z)— u aa u a a a u e o that is the regions of Khur¯s¯n, S¯ an, Azarb¯yj¯n, and Tabarist¯n—only ﬁve aa ıst¯ a a a . are credited to the Sasanians. Of the rest, one is attributed to the mythic period of Iranian history, ten others to the semi-historical and legendary Kay¯nid a history,165 two to Alexander, and three to the Parthian period.166 Of the remaining cities in these three quarters, the construction of one dates partly to the Parthian and partly to the Sasanian period,167 that of another to mythic
2002, Šahrest¯n¯ha-¯ Er¯nšahr: A Middle Persian Text on Late Antique Geography, a ı ı ¯a Epic and History, Costa Mesa, 2002, translated by Touraj Daryaee (Shahrestan 2002); Marquart, J., A Catalogue of the Provincial Capitals of Er¯nshahr, Rome, 1931, edited by G. Messina (Marquart a 1931). 161 For Qub¯d’s reign, which was interrupted for about two years around 497, see §2.4.3 below. a 162 Shahrestan 2002, p. 7. The reigns of the two Khusrows will be discussed extensively below. 163 A k¯st was an administrative and military division of the Sasanian realm introduced under u Khusrow I. For a comparative enumeration of these quarters, as they appear in various sources, see Brunner 1983, pp. 750–771, especially p. 750. For the meaning of the term k¯st, see Marquart 1931, u p. 25, No. 2, and Gyselen 2001a, pp. 13–14 and the references cited therein. 164 Instead “of the word ab¯khtar, north, the geographical name Adurb¯yg¯n was also used for the a a a region in general, to avoid naming north, the region in which, according to the Zoroastrian belief, the gate of hell is situated.” Tafazzoli, Ahmad, Sasanian Society, Winona Lake, 2000 (Tafazzoli 2000), pp. 8–9. 165 As Yarshater observes, whereas “earlier kings are often of a mythical nature . . . the Kayanian kings from Kai Kav¯d to Kai Khusrau form a coherent group which exhibits dynastic features.” a Yarshater 1983b, p. 436. 166 These include the cities of Khw¯razm, Marv al-R¯ d, P¯ shang, N¯ ap¯ r, and Kirm¯n. a u u ısh¯ u a Shahrestan 2002, pp. 18, 20. For further notes on these see, ibid., pp. 37 and 49. 167 Q¯ mis. Shahrestan 2002, pp. 18, 39–40. u
160 Shahrestan

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times, though the Sasanians are credited with ﬁnishing it,168 in yet another site the Sasanians are said to have constructed only a fortress,169 and a last city is thought to have been built by Mazdak!170 The construction of twenty-one other cities in Padhashkhw¯rgar, which, in the Letter of Tansar,171 includes the a territories of Tabarist¯n, Barshaw¯dg¯n, G¯ an, Deylam¯n, R¯y¯n, and Dam¯a a a ıl¯ a u a a . vand (Dumb¯vand), are traced to the mythic period.172 a By contrast, of the twenty-four cities named in the quarter of the west (k¯st-i u khwarbar¯n), the construction of sixteen is credited to the Sasanians.173 Natua rally, this brief analysis is not meant to be an exhaustive history of urban construction activity of the Sasanians, nor of the history of urbanization in Iran. Other studies, including that of Pigulevskaya, have investigated aspects of the process of urbanization during the Sasanian period in general, and have implicitly highlighted the concentration of this development in the western parts of the Sasanian kingdom.174 Neither have we attempted to investigate the administrative infrastructure of the Sasanian domains, through which they exerted their putative central control.175 Signiﬁcantly, as Gyselen has observed, our knowledge about the administrative infrastructure of the Sasanians is seriously hampered by the fact that the primary sources176 at our disposal for reconstructing this history suffer from a serious gap of about three centuries.177 As has been observed in this connection, a “more carefully nuanced picture of the rate and effectiveness with which royal control was extended is obviously desirable, but large gaps in the evidence make it difﬁcult to trace developments with precision.” It has been appropriately remarked, therefore, that as “most information for Sasanian administrative history pertains to the reign of Khusro I in the sixth century, when a centralised bureaucracy of some complexity functioned in the
Shahrestan 2002, pp. 19, 49. Media. Shahrestan 2002, pp. 19, 43. 170 Amul. Shahrestan 2002, pp. 21, 57. ¯ 171 For the Letter of Tansar, see §2.5.2 below. 172 Following the orders of Arm¯y¯ a ıl—one of the two righteous men who decided to pose as cooks in order to save some of the children whose brains were being fed daily to the evil Dahh¯k (see . . .a footnote 2115)—these were built by seven families of mountaineers, some of whom are postulated to be historical. Shahrestan 2002, pp. 19, 44–45. 173 This enumeration does not include cities in Arabia, Syria, Africa, and Yemen, which also ﬁgure in the Shahrest¯n¯ha-¯ Er¯nshahr. For the imperial outlook that the inclusion of these regions in the a ı ı¯a ¯ a conception of Er¯nshahr reﬂects, and the deduction that the incorporation of these territories is a reﬂection of the territorial expansions during the combined reigns of Qub¯d to Khusrow II, see a Shahrestan 2002, pp. 1–7; also see Daryaee, Touraj, ‘The Changing ‘Image of the World’: Geography and Imperial Propaganda in Ancient Persia’, Electrum: Studies in Ancient History 6, (2002), pp. 99– 109 (Daryaee 2002). 174 Marquart 1931, p. 121, Shahbazi, Shapur, ‘Capital Cities’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 768–770, New York, 1991c (Shahbazi 1991c), p. 768. See also Christensen 1993b, and Pigulevskaja 1963. 175 For this the most admirable study remains that of Christensen 1944, and Gyselen 1989. 176 For a categorization of sources available for Sasanian history as primary, secondary, and tertiary, see our discussion on page 10. 177 Gyselen 1989.
169 In 168 Zarang.

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capital Ctesiphon, . . . it is clearly illegitimate to assume that such a level of organisation was characteristic of earlier centuries of Sasanian rule.”178 Our superﬁcial enumeration of Sasanian urban construction activity, therefore, is meant to bring to the fore one important fact: for all their preoccupation with the eastern parts of their domains, the Sasanians were, due to the balance of power in the region and logistic and sociopolitical considerations, a western-oriented empire, within which context we must gauge the equation of urbanization with centralization and the conclusions that we derive from this. This observation, likewise, is no epiphany. It is one, however, that seems to be constantly ignored in the investigation of Sasanian sociopolitical history. In their western gaze, and even in their initial administrative structures, the Sasanians were no different from the Parthians before them.179 The difference was the degree of control that they sought to exert on the heterogeneous population of their western and southwestern regions. Our ensuing discussion on the continued participation of the Parthian dynasts in Sasanian polity, therefore, needs to be put in the context of the predominantly agrarian economy of the nonwestern parts of the Sasanian domains, and the social relations that proceeded from this.180 Altheim’s assessment of the economic landscape of the Sasanian state becomes pertinent here, although the conclusions that he reaches are not corroborated by the evidence. According to Altheim, “the Sasanian economic landscape divide[d] itself into two parts: on the one side [stood] the domain directly under royal rule, and on the other the domain of the landowning nobility in which central power operated only indirectly. It was in the interest of powerful, far-reaching royal control to increase the number of royal cities, and their attendant districts . . . [This] had the effect of converting indirectly ruled into directly ruled districts, and only partly taxed districts into fully-covered ones. The history of the royal founding of cities thus also concerns the struggle between royal power and that of nobility.”181 If this was indeed the case, and if, as we have seen, the Sasanians could boast of the construction of very few cities in the eastern, northeastern, northern, and even northwestern parts of their domains,
178 Lee, A.D., Information and Frontiers: Roman Foreign Relations in Late Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 1993 (Lee 1993), p. 16. Emphasis mine. 179 As Lee observes, the overall picture of the third century “is one of initial continuity with the predominantly feudal arrangements of the Parthians.” Lee 1993, p. 17. See also Lukonin 1983, p. 730. 180 It is evidently understood that even while heavily urbanized, the western regions of the Sasanian domains were likewise dominated by a predominantly agricultural infrastructure, as their extensive construction of irrigation networks in Mesopotamia attests; see footnote 181. 181 Altheim, Franz and Stiehl, Ruth, Ein asiatischer Staat: Feudalismus unter den Sasaniden und ihren Nachbarn, Wiesbaden, 1954 (Altheim and Stiehl 1954), as quoted in Lee 1993, p. 17. Emphasis added. Lee also notes “that the most powerful testimony to the actual growth of centralizing control [during the Sasanian period] is the vast network of systematically laid-out irrigation canals and accompanying engineering projects which archeologists have found in southern Iran and Iraq.” Ibid., p. 16. Emphasis mine. Needless to say these indicate only direct Sasanian control over the aforementioned regions.

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page 24ff. 1978, p. 166. See page 26. 184 Khorenats i 1978, p. 218. Also see Lukonin 1986, p. 58. 185 Khorenats i 1978, p. 218–219. As we shall see, traditions that underline the total decimation of a particular Parthian dynastic family are replete in our sources and are nothing but topoi meant to highlight the defeat of these families at various junctures. For again and again these families appear on the scene after having been allegedly executed to the last man. 186 For further discussion of these third century primary sources, see page 48 below.
183 Khorenats i

182 See

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it follows that for a variety of reasons, not yet fully understood, “the struggle between royal power and . . . [the] nobility,” as evidenced through the construction of royal cities, did not play itself out in extensive territories of the Sasanian realm. One of the primary reasons for this situation, it will be argued in this study, was the predominant power of the Parthian dynastic families in the quarters of the east and the north, k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n and k¯st-i ¯durb¯dau aa u a a g¯n, a power that continued to exert itself over these territories, in spite of the a sporadic efforts of the Sasanians toward centralization. One of the paramount legacies of the Arsacid dynasty to the Sasanian polity was the forceful continuity of the power of the Parthian dynastic families in these domains. As we shall be arguing in this study, Parthian dynasts, who were the co-partners in rule for the Arsacid dynasty,182 came to form a confederacy with the Sasanians as well. The names of some of these families appear in the origins myth of the Armenian historian Moses Khorenats‘i discussed above: the K¯rins, the S¯rens, and the Ispahbudh¯n.183 Two others, the Mihr¯n and the a u a a Kan¯rang¯ an, must be added to these. Khorenats‘i also narrates, with much a ıy¯ passion, a fascinating tale that details the part played by the Parthian dynastic families in the rise of the upstart Sasanian Ardash¯ I to power: “After Artashir, ır son of Sasan, had killed Artavan [the last Arsacid king] and gained the throne, two branches of the Pahlav family called Aspahapet [i.e., Ispahbudh¯n] and Sua r¯n Pahlav were jealous at the rule of the branch of their own kin, that is Artae sh¯s, [—who ruled over Parthava—] and willingly accepted the rule of Artashir, e son of Sasan. But the house of Kar¯n Pahlav, remaining friendly toward their e brother and kin, opposed in war Artashir, son of Sasan.”184 Khorenats‘i then proceeds to narrate the actions taken by the Arsacid Armenian king Khusrov on behalf of the Arsacid dynasty of Iran in the wake of the turmoil that ensued after the murder of Ardav¯n. Khusrov’s call to arms and his promise that upon a victory he would bestow the crown of Iran on one of the Iranian Parthian families, went unheeded by the S¯ren and the Ispahbudh¯n families. The news u a also reached Khusrov that in the process of their struggle against Ardash¯ I, the ır K¯rins had been decimated, save for one child, Perozamat, who became “the a ancestor of our great family of Kamsarakan.”185 Khorenats‘i’s account surely combines fact with ﬁction. It does, however, highlight one important fact: as the Sasanian primary sources for the third century testify,186 the end of the Arsacid dynasty did not mean the end of the Parthian dynastic families in Iran. As late as Ardash¯ II’s (379–383) reign, the Sasanians still recalled the services ır rendered to them by Parthian dynastic families in the third century. According

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to Khorenats‘i, the Sasanian king recalled for V˙amshapuh, the Arsacid king r of Armenia (392–414),187 that he “remembered the services of his [i.e., Bishop Sahak, who was of Parthian ancestry] ancestors, the Princes of the line of Sur¯n e Pahlav, who willingly accepted the sovereignty of my ancestor and homonym Artashir.”188 As we shall see, there is reason to suspect that the S¯ren continued u their loyal service to the Sasanians to the very end of the dynasty. Armenian Arsacids Even if we were to start with the fallacy that the ascendancy of the Sasanians ushered in a new age that obliterated the Parthian legacy and their traditions of rule, as the canonical Sasanian history would have us believe, we cannot afford to lose sight of a crucial dimension of Sasanian history, namely, its intimate and involved relationship with its northwestern neighbor Armenia, where an Arsacid dynasty continued to rule up until 428 CE. It has been poignantly argued, in fact, that the “political history of Iran during [both] the Parthian and Sasanian periods . . . is scarcely intelligible without reference to Armenia and Georgia.”189 The connection of Iran to Armenia harks back to remote antiquity and the Urartan period. When in 66 CE, emperor Nero (54–68) ofﬁcially crowned the Arsacid Prince Tiridates I (53–75) king of Armenia, however, a new chapter was opened in the Armenian–Iranian relationship. The defeat of the Arsacids in Iran in the early third century, therefore, did not mean the disappearance of the Parthians from the scene. Far from it. For, in fact, when “the Parthians were overthrown by the Sasanians in 226 CE, the old Armenian royal house became redoubtable foes of the new Great Kings of Iran.”190 As Garsoian argues this theme of “Arsacid blood vengeance is ubiquitous in early Armenian literature . . . [and] is repeated from generation to generation . . . in Armenian literature. It [even] appears in as late a work as that of Moses Chorenatsi.”191 Not until 428, when the Armenian Arsacid dynasty was abolished, was this situation changed.192 As David Lang argues, the continued rule of the Arsacids in Armenia “helps to explain the singular bitterness of the relations
was the father of Artash¯s, last king of Armenia. Elish¯ 1982, p. 60, n. 5. e e 1978, p. 317. Parpeci 1991, History of Łazar P‘arpec‘i,˙vol. 4 of Columbia University Program in Armenian Studies, Atlanta, 1991, edited by R.W. Thomson (Parpeci 1991), p. 53. 189 Lang 1983, p. 517. 190 Lang 1983, p. 518. 191 Garsoian 1985e, pp. 2–3, n. 5. Moses Khorenats‘i devotes a whole section at the end of his work to the “lament over the removal of the Armenian throne from the Arsacid family and of the archbishopry from the family of Saint Gregory.” Khorenats i 1978, pp. 350–354. 192 In 416, the Sasanian Sh¯p¯ r, son of Yazdgird I, had been appointed king of Armenia after the a u deaths of the Armenian Arsacid kings V˙amshapuh and Khosrov III. When Sh¯p¯r died in 420 in r a u ¯ e an attempt to gain the Sasanian throne after the death of his father (see §2.2.3 below), Artash¯s, the son of V˙amshapuh, assumed the Armenian throne in 423. As a result of the dynastic struggles in r a u Armenia, the latter was deposed in 428 by Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438) upon the request of the naxarars of the country. Thus ended the line of the Arsacids in Armenia. Thereafter, “the government of Armenia was conducted by marzb¯ns, who were sometimes picked from the Armenian nobility.” a Chaumont 1991, p. 429.
188 Khorenats i 187 V˙amshapuh r

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between Arsacid Armenia and Sasanian Iran, extending right up to and even after the abolition of the Armenian Arsacid dynasty in 428.”193 Armenian Arsacids continued to claim to be the champions of Iranian legitimacy.194 Until the Armenian Arsacids made Christianity the state religion of Armenia in 301 under Tiridates III (283–330), moreover, and probably for a substantial period after that,195 the Sasanians were forced to reckon with an Armenia that was not only Arsacid but also most probably predominantly Mithraist. This aspect of Armenian tradition and its connection to the religious panorama of the Sasanians also has important ramiﬁcations, which we will discuss below.196 What is more, not only the royal house but also a good number of Armenian noble houses, as well as one of the most illustrious Christian dynastic lines of Armenia, that of the Armenian patron saint, St. Gregory the Illuminator, claimed descent from the Arsacids, in the latter case from the S¯rens, St. Gregory being u remembered by the Armenian church “to this day by the surname Partev, the Parthian.”197 Not only in Armenia but in Georgia as well, the Parthian legacy continued well into the Sasanian period. After the kingdom of Amazaspes of the Third Parnabazid dynasty in Iberia was replaced, sometime in the 180s CE, with that of Rev, the son of the sister of Amazaspes, there was for over a century “an Arsacid or Parthian dynasty in eastern Georgia, allied by blood to the Armenian Arsacids.”198 Upon the extinction of this Arsacid line in eastern Georgia in the fourth century, when the kingdom passed to king Mirian III, the latter established a dynasty called the Chosroids. These Chosroids “were [also] a branch of the Iranian [Parthian] Mihranids [i.e., Mihr¯ns].”199 As late as the reign of a Khusrow I (531–579), when the Armenians were hard-pressed by the Byzantines, and a group of them went to the Sasanian king in order to solicit his aid, they continued to recall their Arsacid ancestry. Procopius preserves a narrative that underscores this Arsacid consciousness among the Armenians: “Many of us, O Master, are Arsacidae, descendants of that Arsaces who was not unrelated to the Parthian kings when the Persian realm lay under the hand of the
1983, p. 518. 1983, p. 518. 195 As Thomson remarks, “Koriun’s biography of Mashtots‘ makes it clear that even in the early ﬁfth century there were many in Armenia still unconverted.” Elish¯ 1982, p. 12. See also foote ˙ note 2232 below.
194 Lang 193 Lang

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§5.4.4. 1983, p. 518. Moses Khorenats‘i emphasizes St. Gregory’s descent from the line of the Parthian S¯ren Pahlav. Khorenats i 1978, pp. 166, 250. u 198 Lang 1983, p. 520. 199 Beginning with Mirian III, the Chosroid dynasty also turned Christian. As Lang observes, the “political systems of Armenia and Georgia had much in common with the great monarchies of Iran. Considering that the Arsacids of Armenia were Parthian princes, and the Mihranids, Chosroids and Guaramids of Iberia all closely connected with one or other of the Seven Great Houses of Iran, this was only to be expected . . . It is [also] necessary to stress the many close links between Iran, Armenian and Georgia in religion, architecture and the arts, which continued even after the latter two countries had ofﬁcially adopted Christianity.” Lang 1983, pp. 520, 527–528, 531, respectively.

196 See

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Parthians, and who proved himself an illustrious king, inferior to none of his time. Now we have come to thee, and all of us have become slaves and fugitives, not, however, of our own will, but under most hard constraint . . . of the Roman power.”200 The close connection of Iran to Armenia will become apparent in the pages that follow.201 Sufﬁce it to say here that the de facto termination of Arsacid rule in Iran—even while ignoring the history of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy with which we shall be dealing in the pages that follow—did not mean the destruction of the Parthian legacy among the Sasanians. For up to the ﬁrst quarter of the ﬁfth century, at the very least, the Sasanians were forced to reckon with an Armenia that was not only Arsacid but also conscious of the defeat of their brethren, the Iranian Arsacids, by the Sasanians.202 The Sasanians, for their part, could not have afforded to ignore this persistent legacy. The continued relevance of the Parthian legacy to Sasanian history, and in fact their centrality in the affairs of the Sasanian dynasty, at its inception and throughout their history, was so overwhelming that popular traditions connected the lineage of the ﬁrst Sasanian rulers to the last defeated Arsacid king.203 There are numerous versions of this tradition, all bearing the same theme. According to these narratives, when Ardash¯ I killed the last Arsacid king, Ardaır v¯n, and “vow[ed] not to leave a single soul from Ardav¯n’s house alive,” he a a inadvertently married a member of the Arsacid royal family.204 According to Tabar¯ the bride was none other than Ardav¯n’s daughter.205 The Nih¯yat206 ı, a a .
200 Procopius, The History of the Wars, London, 1914, translated by H.B. Dewing (Procopius 1914), here p. 279. 201 Although, naturally, a detailed investigation of this is beyond the conﬁnes of our study. The work of Toumanoff remains to date the magnum opus on the history Caucasia, Toumanoff 1963. For a series of fascinating studies on the Irano–Armenian cultural relationship, with aspects of which we shall be dealing further in this study, also see Garsoian 1985b; Russell 1991; Russell, James R. (ed.), Armenian and Iranian Studies, vol. 9 of Harvard Armenian Texts and Studies, Cambridge, Mass., 2004 (Russell 2004). 202 The intimate afﬁnity of Armenia with Iran was not conﬁned to this. For as Garsoian observes, the very “fabric of Armenian life, its social, legal and administrative institutions as well as its tastes and mores, reveals a far greater coincidence with the Iranian tradition.” Garsoian 1985e, p. 6. 203 A line of debate in the Sasanian creation of an image of itself revolves around how the dynasty conceived of its relationship to the Achaemenids. For these see Yarshater 1971; also see Daryaee 1995 and the sources cited therein. 204 Yarshater 1983b, p. 380. 205 Tabar¯ The S¯s¯n¯ds, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen, vol. V of The History of Taı, aa ı . . bar¯, Albany, 1999, translated and annotated by C.E. Bosworth (Tabar¯ 1999), p. 25, and n. 86, ı ı . de Goeje, 824. Bosworth, in the prior note, as well as Nöldeke 1879, pp. 26–28 and p. 28, n. 1, ¯a a Nöldeke, Theodore, T¯r¯kh-i Ir¯niy¯n va Arab-h¯ dar zam¯n-i S¯s¯niy¯n, Tehran, 1979, translation aı a a aa a of Nöldeke 1879 by Abbas Zaryab (Nöldeke 1979), pp. 76–78 and p. 89, n. 7; and Lukonin 1986, p. 49, question the veracity of this genealogy, an issue not relevant to the arguments presented here. It is interesting to note, however, that this genealogical tradition is not found in Tha ¯lib¯ for a ı, instance. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 473–486. a ı 206 Another important source for Sasanian history is the anonymous Nihayat 1996, Nih¯yat al- Irab a f¯ Akhb¯r al-Furis wa ’l- Arab, vol. 162, Tehran, 1996, translated by M.T. Danish-Pazhuh (Nihayat ı a 1996). For some crucial junctures of the Sasanian history, it adds important details not found in other recensions of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition. For the value of the Nih¯yat as a source, see Rubin, a a a

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maintains that she was a cousin of the Arsacid king,207 and D¯ ınawar¯ claims her ı to be the daughter of another Arsacid prince.208 In the K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n, written apparently toward the end of a a ı a a the Sasanian period and containing a popular and romanticized version of the life of Ardash¯ I, this Parthian connection is pervasive. In one version of this ır matrimony given by the K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n, after defeating Ardaa a ı a a v¯n,209 Ardash¯ I marries the unnamed daughter of the last Parthian king.210 a ır The brothers of Ardav¯n, having found sanctuary with K¯bulsh¯h, later wrote a a a to their sister and, chastising her for being oblivious to familial bonds, urged her to poison Ardash¯ I. Providentially, the poisoned cup that Ardash¯ I was about ır ır to drink was spilt and the king realized his wife’s mutiny. When the m¯badh¯n o a m¯bad informed the king that the punishment for such acts against the king o was death, and subsequently was ordered by Ardash¯ I to carry out the senır tence against the Parthian princess, the latter informed the m¯bad that she was o seven months pregnant with the child of the Sasanian king. Realizing the king’s ﬂeeting anger and anticipating his future regret, the m¯bad forewent killing the o princess and hid her from Ardash¯ I. The son that was subsequently born was ır the future king, Sh¯p¯r I.211 It is signiﬁcant that this same story is also contained a u in the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ 212 The narrative of Sh¯p¯r I’s matrimony to a a a ı. a u daughter of Mihrak-i N¯shz¯d¯n, resulting in the birth of Hormozd I, is equally u a a revealing. For while the precise Parthian ancestry of Mihrak cannot be established, the theophoric Mithraic name of Mihrak, the continued profusion of Mithraic terminology in his narrative, and the intense enmity existing between him and Ardash¯ I underline Mihrak’s exalted and perhaps Parthian genealogy. ır So important Mihrak’s ancestry seems to have been, in fact, that the Indian astrologers are said to have prognosticated that the kingship of Iran could be obtained only by him who was an offspring from the seed of Mihrak-i N¯shz¯u a d¯n and Ardash¯ I.213 In spite of Ardash¯ I’s insistence on the impossibility a ır ır

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Zeev, ‘The Reforms of Khusrow An¯shirw¯n’, in Averil Cameron and Lawrence I. Conrad (eds.), u a The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, III: States, Resources and Armies, pp. 227–297, Princeton, 1995 (Rubin 1995), here pp. 237–239, and the sources cited therein, providing a history of the source from E. G. Browne to M. Grignaschi. 207 Nihayat 1996, pp. 181, 183–185. 208 D¯ ınawar¯ Ab¯ Han¯ Ahmad, Akhb¯r al-Tiw¯l, Tehran, 1967, translated by Sadiq Nash’at ı, u . ıfa . a . a (D¯ ınawar¯ 1967), pp. 46–47. All quoted as well in Yarshater 1983b, p. 380. ı 209 At the inception of this story, with Ardav¯n’s favorite slave girl in his company, Ardash¯ I a ır ﬂees from the last Arsacid king. As we shall see on page 366, the imagery surrounding this ﬂight is full of portent Mithraic symbolism, that is, symbolism borrowed from the predominant religious predilections of the Parthian families. Ardashir 1963, K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n, Tehran, 1963, a a ı a a translated by Sadegh Hedayat (Ardashir 1963), p. 182. For Mithraism among the Parthians, see Chapter 5, especially §5.4. 210 Ardashir 1963, p. 184. 211 Ardashir 1963, pp. 195–202. 212 Ferdows¯ Sh¯hn¯ma, Moscow, 1971 (Ferdows¯ 1971), vol. VII, pp. 156–164. ı, a a ı 213 Ardashir 1963, p. 203.

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of this mixture,214 from the union of the daughter of Mihrak with Sh¯p¯r I, a u Hormozd I was born.215 What is signiﬁcant about these genealogical traditions is not their possible historical veracity, but the fact that in some quarters at least, the early Sasanians could gain legitimacy only by genealogical connections to the Arsacids. This belief, moreover, circulated even in late Sasanian period. For the purposes of the later Sasanian history examined in this study, moreover, it is important to keep in mind that the strongholds of Ardav¯n throughout a his struggle against Ardash¯ I were the regions of Rayy, Dam¯vand, Deylam, ır a and Padhashkhw¯rgar (Tabarist¯n), the traditional homelands of the Arsacid a a . dynasty.216 2.1.1 Christensen’s thesis

The continued power of the Parthian families is acknowledged—in some corners more than others—by current scholarship on the Sasanians. The details of Sasanian administrative structure, based predominantly on the primary evidence of the third and the sixth centuries, and the secondary and tertiary literary sources, was long ago investigated in Christensen’s magnum opus, L’Iran sous les Sassanides, a highly erudite work which continues to be the reference point of all current scholarship on the Sasanians. The paradigmatic narrative constructed by Christensen runs something like this:217 In its broad outlines, the social and administrative structure of Sasanian society harked back to antiquity. Its hierarchy was articulated in the Younger Avest¯218 as the class of the priests, a a e a o ¯ϑravan; the warriors, raϑa¯štar; and ﬁnally the agriculturalists, v¯stry¯fšuyant. In one instance, a fourth class of artisans or h¯iti is also mentioned.219 Superu imposed on the politically and socially more complex Sasanian society was a similar division: the clerical class, asrav¯n; the class of the warriors, art¯sht¯r¯n; a e aa the bureaucrats, dibh¯r¯n; and ﬁnally the people. Included among the last were ea the farmers, v¯stry¯sh¯n, and the artisans, hutukhsh¯n. Each class was itself strata o a a iﬁed into various categories. The head of the priestly class was the m¯badh¯n o a m¯badh; that of the warriors, ¯r¯n-sp¯hbadh; the bureaucrats, ¯r¯n-dibh¯rbadh; o ea a ea e and ﬁnally the people were headed by the v¯stry¯sh¯n s¯l¯r. a o a aa
214 Ardashir

1963, p. 204:
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1963, pp. 203–209; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, pp. 164–172. ı 1963, p. 184. Yarshater 1983b, p. 365. 217 The discussion of the Sasanian social and administrative structure is based on Christensen 1944, pp. 96–137. Also see Tafazzoli 2000. 218 For the periodization of the various parts of the Avest¯, see Kellens, J., ‘Avesta’, in Ehsan a Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 35–44, New York, 1991 (Kellens 1991). 219 Zamyad Yasht 1883, Zamy¯d Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, a 1883, translated by James Darmesteter (Zamyad Yasht 1883), §17, as cited in Christensen 1944, p. 98.
216 Ardashir

215 Ardashir

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Third-century inscriptions A second and for our purposes more important social division of the Sasanians, however, according to this narrative, was inherited from more recent times, the period of the Arsacid dynasty (247 BCE–224 CE). In the bilingual inscription ¯ a of Sh¯p¯r I at H¯j¯ Ab¯d (ŠH) in the province of F¯rs,220 these are listed as the a u a .aı Princes of the Empire, or shahrd¯r¯n; the high-ranking elite or v¯spuhr¯n; the aa a a grandees, or wuzurg¯n, and ﬁnally the freemen or az¯dh¯n.221 Divine Glory a a a (or farr) was a quality possessed by the King of Kings. “Originally meaning life force, activity, or splendor, it [gradually] came to mean victory, fortune, and especially royal fortune.”222 But the King of Kings was not the only dignitary in possession of farr. The shahrd¯r¯n of the realm could also boast the attribute aa of Divine Glory. The highest members of the v¯spuhr¯n came from the seven a a great feudal families of the realm. In fact, the Sasanians were themselves only the ﬁrst of these. As Christensen observes, “the members of these seven great families had the right to carry a crown, being in their origin the equals of the kings of Iran. Only the size of their crown was smaller than that of the Sasanian kings.”223 The shahrd¯r¯n were subordinate to the King of Kings, Sh¯hansh¯h. aa a a These subordinate kings also included the large ﬁef holders, as well as the vassal kings of other regions under the protection of the Sasanian king. Also included among those carrying the title of king and the splendor that accompanied it were a number of marzb¯ns (wardens of marches) “whose territories were para ticularly susceptible to enemy attacks and who were entitled to a reward in return for their defense of the realm.”224
220 Lukonin 1983, p. 682; Boyce, Mary, ‘Parthian Writings and Literature’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 1151– 1166, Cambridge University Press, 1983b (Boyce 1983b), p. 1165, and the sources cited therein. 221 See also footnote 126. 222 Meaning glory, derived etymologically from the Iranian word xuar/n for sun, and attested in various forms in other Iranian languages (Median and Old Persian“farnah, Soghdian farn), the concept traversed into other cultural zones (in Buddhist Soghdian signifying the position of Buddha, and in Armenian signifying glory, honor, for example). It is “at the root of ideas that were widespread in the Hellenistic and Roman period . . . such as tyche basileus, fortuna regia,” and in Islamic Iran, it was translated into the concept of farr-i il¯h¯. Farr was a royal and divine attribute. a ı Besides meaning “glory, splendor, luminosity and shine, [and besides being] connected with sun and ﬁre . . . [its] secondary meaning . . . related to prosperity, (good) fortune, and (kingly) majesty.” It was associated with the stars and the great luminaries, various divinities, most importantly, as we shall see, with Mithra, as well as with waters and mountains. Its iconographical representations ranged from winged sun disks to rings in investiture scenes, ﬁgural images connected with light and ﬁre, and ﬁnally to birds and rams, although there continues to be controversies surrounding some of these representations. See Gnoli, Gherardo, ‘Farr(ah)’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007 (Gnoli 2007); Frye, Richard N., The Golden Age of Persia: The Arabs in the East, London, 1975a (Frye 1975a), p. 8. See the religion chapter for further discussion of this important Iranian concept, especially page 354ff. 223 Christensen 1944, p. 103. 224 Christensen, Arthur, Vaz -i Milat va Dowlat va Darb¯r dar Dowrih-i Sh¯hansh¯h¯-i S¯s¯niy¯n, a a a ı aa a Tehran, 1935, translated and annotated by Mujtaba Minovi (Christensen 1935), p. 28. In the acts of the Syrian martyrs we ﬁnd, among others, Mihr¯nid marzb¯ns from Bet-Dar¯y¯ and from Georgia, a a a e called respectively Shahr¯n and P¯ an Gushnasp. Hoffmann, G., Auszüge aus syrischen Akten pere ır¯

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The seven great feudal families of the Sasanian period traced their descent to the Parthians. In fact only three, Christensen argues, seem to have held the same elevated position in the Arsacid feudal structure inherited by the Sasanians. These were the families of the K¯rins, the S¯rens, and the Ispahbudh¯n. These a u a all carried the title of Pahlav, or Parthian. The three other families were the Spand¯ adhs (or Isfand¯ ar), the Mihr¯n,225 and “possibly the Z¯ 226 Toıy¯ ıy¯ a ıks.” gether they formed a sort of feudal nobility. Their power primarily accrued to them from their large ﬁefs. A number of these families in time came to be associated with certain provinces in the empire. The family of K¯rins, therefore, are a known to have resided in the Nih¯vand area (in Media), the S¯rens in S¯ an, a u ıst¯ and the Ispahbudh¯n in Dihist¯n in Gurg¯n.227 The centrifugal powers of this a a a Parthian feudal nobility in Sasanian society has been acknowledged. Long ago Lukonin argued, for example, that “political centralization appears to have been achieved in Iran only at the end of the Sasanian epoch, when the reform[s of Khusrow I were] . . . completed.”228 Pioneering scholars have even attempted to trace the bare outlines of the history of some of these great Parthian feudal families in early Sasanian history.229 Patkanian, for example, highlighted that the Sasanians devoted a substantial part of their early history to combating the traditions of Parthava, traditions which still forcefully presented themselves against that of the Pers¯ 230 It has been further observed that the high place ıs. that these dignitaries continued to hold in the court of the ﬁrst Sasanian kings is a reﬂection of the fact that they formed a confederacy without the aid of which Ardash¯ I could not have assumed power to begin with. The list of the ır nobility in the inscriptions of the ﬁrst Sasanian kings in the Ka ba-i Zartusht (ŠKZ), for example, argued Lukonin, makes it amply clear that it was as a result
sischer Märtyrer, vol. 7 of Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Leipzig, 1980 (Hoffmann 1980), pp. 64, 68 apud Khurshudian, Eduard, Die Partischen und Sasanidischen Verwaltungsinstitutionen nach den literarischen und epigraphischen Quellen, Yerevan, 1998 (Khurshudian 1998), p. 71. 225 Patkanian claims that indirect allusions in the works of Armenian historians seem to indicate that the Mihr¯ns were in fact a branch of the Ispahbudh¯n family. But he does not elaborate on a a this. Patkanian, M.K., ‘D’une histoire de la dynastie des Sassanides’, Journal Asiatique pp. 101–238, translated by M. Evariste Prud’homme (Patkanian 1866), p. 129. Nöldeke questions whether the Mihr¯ns were the same house as the Isfand¯ ar family for the base of both seems to have been in a ıy¯ Rayy. I do not know based on what he conjectures the identity of the Isfand¯ ars and the Mihr¯ns. ıy¯ a 226 Christensen 1944, p. 103. 227 When describing the celebration of Isfand¯rmadh (Spandarmad), the Amahraspand of earth, a called mard-q¯r¯n, B¯ un¯ maintains that this celebration was prevalent in the Parthian domains, in ıa ır¯ ı which he includes Isfah¯n and Rayy. B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 355. As we shall see, contrary to Christensen’s ır¯ ı . a claims, there is little doubt that the concentration of the power of the Parthians families of the K¯rin, the Mihr¯n, the Ispahbudh¯n, and the Kan¯rang¯ an during the Sasanian period remained in a a a a ıy¯ the lands of Pahlav and Media, the isolated names of villages and rivers outside of these territories notwithstanding. Christensen 1944, pp. 105–106. 228 Through these reforms, argues Lukonin, “the system of shahrs was changed to a system of four large divisions of the state [k¯st], headed by vice-regents appointed by the central government and u each wielding both military and civil power in his vice-regency—a kind of revival of the institution of the shahrab.” Lukonin 1983, p. 731. Emphasis mine. Nöldeke 1979, p. 88, n. 1. 229 Patkanian 1866. 230 Patkanian 1866, pp. 119–120 and 126–128.

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of the cooperation of the kings of And¯ an, Kirm¯n, Aprenak, Sakist¯n, and ıg¯ a a Marv, as well as the cooperation of the Parthian feudal families of the Razz, the S¯rens, the K¯rins, and not to mention the cooperation of the minor kings of u a Mesopotamia, that Ardash¯ I was able to assume power.231 Lukonin further ır argued that it is rather certain that in the court of Ardash¯ I, “the S¯rens, K¯ır u a rens, Var¯zes and the kings of And¯ an held positions of great honor, ousting the a ıg¯ representatives of the noble clan of Persis. In this instance there is a complete analogy with the appearance, at the court of the King of Kings of Iran of the new dynasty, of the kings of Marv, Abarshahr, Carmenia, Sakast¯n, Iberia and Adia abene.” After all, argued Lukonin, “the extensive domains of the S¯rens, K¯rens u a and Var¯zes must also have originally become part of the Sasanian state as semia independent states,”232 and the king most probably could not interfere much in the regions under their control.233 In spite of the ostensible decimation of the K¯rins at the hands of the Sasanians, therefore, even these continue to appear a in the court of the Ardash¯ I as high dignitaries.234 There are also indications ır that the scribal personnel of early Sasanian society, a group that belonged to the third estate, were inherited from the Parthian scribal personnel. Thus, among the retinue of Sh¯p¯r I (241–272) at the Ka ba-i Zartusht (ŠKZ), there is mention a u of one Ašt¯d, “the (letter) scribe [pad frawardag dib¯r in Parthian] from Rayy, a ı from the Mihr¯n family.”235 As far as the rule of the early Sasanians are cona cerned, therefore, the continuity of the political power of the Parthians in their polity is acknowledged by most scholars of Sasanian history. In spite of these reservations about the power of the Sasanians at the inception of their rule and during subsequent centuries, however, it was the Christensenian paradigm that came to dominate the ﬁeld. While acknowledging decentralizing forces operating at the inception of Sasanian history, Christensen argued that during the third century the monarchy obtained great powers. During this period the Sasanians attempted to assert their control over newly acquired territories formerly under the control of the Parthian dynasts and various other petty kings and leashed the decentralizing forces of their realm. During this century, argued Christensen, the Sasanians attempted to rid themselves of the legacy of the Parthians. “In few years, and with a heavy hand, he [Ardash¯ welded together the rarely cohesive parts of ır] the Parthian kingdom into a ﬁrm and solid unity . . . and created a political

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1986, p. 57. 1983, p. 705. Emphasis mine. In the depictions of Sh¯p¯r I at Naqsh-i Rajab likea u wise, after the king, the princes of the realm and the queen, and the commander of king’s guard, come representatives of the families of Var¯z (Ardash¯ Var¯z), S¯ren (Ardash¯ S¯ren), and K¯rin. a ır a u ır u a Lukonin 1986, p. 108–109. 233 Besides the Parthian dynasts, we also know that the kings of Abarshahr, Marv, Kirm¯n, and a Sakast¯n continued to rule their own territories during Ardash¯ I’s reign. Lukonin 1986, p. 21. a ır 234 Frye, Richard N., ‘The Political History of Iran Under the Sasanians’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), pp. 119–120, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Frye 1983). See also note 185. 235 Tafazzoli 2000, p. 21.
232 Lukonin

231 Lukonin

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1944, p. 96. Emphasis mine. 1944, p. 97. Emphasis mine. 238 Christensen 1944, p. 106. 239 Christensen 1944, pp. 106–107. 240 See page 29. 241 Christensen 1944, p. 109. 242 Christensen 1944, p. 108–109. Emphasis added.
237 Christensen

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and religious organism that lasted for more than four centuries[!]”236 Thus, Christensen argued, the advent of the Sasanians was not simply a political event: it marked the appearance of a “novel spirit in the Iranian empire . . . The two characteristic traits of the system of the Sasanian state . . . [were] heavy centralization and the creation of a state church.”237 What then of the power of the Parthian feudal families, those who were thought to be on a par with Sasanian kings, and those without whose aid Ardash¯ I could not have assumed kingship? Christensen argued that as the territoır ries of these Parthian nobles came to be dispersed in the different parts of the kingdom—it is not clear how—this undermined their continued control over vast estates. The fragmentation of the territorial possessions of the Parthian feudal families was perhaps one of the causes, according to Christensen, through which, in time, these became more and more a “nobility of the robe and of the court,” losing the characteristics of real feudal nobility. In comparison to the area under the direct control of the state and administered by the royal governors, the territories under the control of the feudal nobility were never extensive.238 While this remained the case, we do not know the nature of the king’s jurisdiction over the territories under the control of the Parthian feudal nobility, and whether these had total or partial immunity. It is true that certain ofﬁces in the Sasanian realm belonged to these families on a hereditary basis and through ancient custom, Christensen admitted.239 Quoting the narrative of Simocatta about the hereditary positions of the nobility in Sasanian administration,240 he proceeded to argue that “[i]t is difﬁcult to assess to which family each of the aforementioned posts belonged.” As the families of S¯ren and Mihr¯n are u a generally mentioned among the generals of the army, one might conclude that each of these families controlled one of the military posts, Christensen conceded. As for the distribution of the civilian posts among these families, “we know absolutely nothing about this.”241 Finally, “all considered . . . , while it is true that the hereditary posts were very important positions, they were not the most important . . . In fact it is not likely that the primary posts of the empire, that of the prime minister, the commander in chief of all the armies of the king etc., should have been transmitted on a hereditary basis, and that the king would not have had the choice of his counselors . . . This kind of institution would have been incompatible with the absolutist government that was in effect the base of the Sasanian state, and it would have, in a short time, brought about the ruin of the empire.”242 The hereditary posts in the Sasanian empire, therefore, “were positions of honor that marked the privileged status of the seven Parthian

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243 Christensen 244 Frye

1944, p. 110. 1983, p. 133. Emphasis added. 245 See §2.6.3 and §2.7.1.

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families. The power of these, especially in the period anterior to Qub¯d and a Khusrow I, rested equally in the revenues of their ﬁefs, and on the force of feudal ties between these Parthian families and their subjects.”243 What then did these Parthian families do with the wealth and manpower under their control? They used this as a “prerogative in the nomination of the highest posts in the empire,” according to Christensen. As we shall see, however, this included the appointment of the Sasanian kings themselves! While acknowledging long stretches of Sasanian history wherein the feudal nobility held sway, Christensen nevertheless carried his thesis of an absolutist, centralized monarchy to the end of the Sasanian period, making Khusrow I the quintessential absolute monarch, and devoting to him a substantial part of his opus. The Christensenian thesis carried the ﬁeld. Accordingly, it was subsequently argued, for example, that while “the nobility from time to time during the Sasanian empire showed its power, on the whole the importance of the ruler and the centralization of authority continued . . . The reign of Sh¯p¯r II (309–379) can be considered the culmination a u of the process of centralization under the early Sasanian kings.”244 As we shall see, however, the centrist monarchical perspective promoted by this thesis falls seriously short of explaining the ongoing tension between the Sasanian monarchy and the decentralizing forces operating within its polity. Speciﬁcally, and most importantly, it fails to properly appreciate the tremendous and continuous power of the Parthian feudal nobility, the Pahlav, within the Sasanian realm. It cannot explain why episodic surges of the Sasanians’ attempt at centralization were thoroughly overshadowed by substantial periods when there was almost a total collapse of the power of the monarchy, and a resurgence of the power of the Parthian feudal families. If the Sasanians were so successful in creating an absolutist and powerful centralized polity, then we are at a loss to account for the stories of a multitude of Sasanian kings who were enthroned and deposed, sometimes in their infancy, at the whim of this same Parthian feudal nobility. If the height of Sasanian centralization was achieved in the sixth century, why was it that even after the reforms of the archetypal centrist Sasanian monarch, Khusrow I, Sasanian control was on the verge of collapse through the rebellions of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and Vist¯hm, both belonging a u ın a to the Parthian families?245 A longue durée investigation of Sasanian sociopolitical history, one which does not read the evidence for the third and sixth centuries into the rest of Sasanian history, reveals that, except for short periods in their history, the Sasanians were rarely able to centralize their rule and leash the power of the Parthian feudal nobility. In fact, if we were to read the history of the Sasanians not from the monarchical perspective or from the point of view of the Sasanian court in western Iran and Mesopotamia, the result would be a thoroughly different history, dominated by the tremendous power of the Pahlav families. The power

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of the Sasanian monarchy at the center, it will be argued in this study, was always contingent on the cooperation of the Pahlav families with the Sasanians, the inheritors of the traditions of Pers¯ The Sasanians realized this early in ıs. their reign and recognized that the only viable and enduring polity that they could ever hope to establish was one in which the long-established power of the Pahlav families was acknowledged and rendered continuous. Thus, in direct continuity with the history of the Arsacids, the Sasanians knew they had to establish a confederacy with the Pahlav families. This policy was made viable by the fact that, throughout their long history, the Pahlav families had never been a homogeneous group to begin with. The divisions and rivalries long established among them made the Sasanians’ task easy, and the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy worked admirably, albeit with the ebb and ﬂow inherent in any such political arrangement, throughout most of Sasanian history. In fact, the dissolution of the Sasanian polity was caused primarily by Sasanian efforts, late in their history, to do away with this confederacy. Part of the problem in appreciating the dynamics of the relationship between the Sasanian monarchy and the Parthian families is the conceptual framework that scholarship has adopted in order to investigate Sasanian sociopolitical and administrative history, a conceptual framework which, sustained by Christensen’s thesis, nevertheless fails to account for the realities of Sasanian history. Toumanoff’s study246 of Caucasia offers an alternative conceptual framework that is much more applicable to Sasanian society, through which we can appreciate the nature of the P¯rs¯ a ıg– Pahlav relationship throughout Sasanian history. 2.1.2 Dynasticism

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246 Toumanoff 247 Toumanoff

1963. 1963, p. 34. 248 Toumanoff 1963, p. 34, nn. 1–2. Emphasis added. 249 Toumanoff 1963, p. 35.

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In a detailed study of the history of Caucasia through the centuries, Toumanoff argues that the “social history of Caucasia is marked by an extraordinary permanence of form, which offers a sharp contrast to the vicissitudes of its political history . . . The perdurable form in question is one of a strongly aristocratic society which combined in an unusual way the features of a feudal regime with those of a dynastic regime evolved from earlier tribal conditions.”247 Citing recent studies of feudalism, Toumanoff notes that unfortunately in these studies “no notice was taken of Caucasian society, or that other component which may, in contradistinction to feudalism, be termed dynasticism.”248 Toumanoff then proceeds to conceptualize what he understands to be the nature of the two regimes of feudalism and dynasticism. Feudalism, Toumanoff argues, is born “of the revolutionary encounter of two more or less moribund elements.” One of these elements is the “state: a civilized, bureaucratic and centralized, cosmocratic, yet disintegrating polity—or, at least, an abortive attempt at one.”249 The other element “is the tribe in what has been called its Heroic Age, when,

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1963, p. 35. 1963, p. 35. 252 Toumanoff 1963, p. 36. Emphasis added. 253 Toumanoff 1963, p. 36. Emphasis added. 254 Toumanoff 1963, p. 36. 255 Toumanoff 1963, p. 37. 256 Toumanoff 1963, p. 37.
251 Toumanoff

250 Toumanoff

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instead of a gradual evolution into a polity, it suffers, under the impact of a too-pronounced outside inﬂuence of a State, the disruption of the ties of mystic kingship that have held it together and which are now replaced by personal and contractual bonds of lord–vassal relationship.”250 The feudal society that results from the meeting of these two elements at a particular juncture of a society can thus be described as “a system of government, a polity, which is marked by the diffusion of sovereign power.”251 In spite of the horizontal and vertical ways in which sovereignty is pulverized in such a society, Toumanoff argues, “there is nevertheless unity in this society, besides diversity; it derives from the tradition of a centralized state, and, once enforced by the ruler–subject bonds, is now affected by the lord–vassal relations of the pyramidal group.” Relations, in such a system, “converge in the person of supreme overlord, or king, who is the theoretical source of sovereignty and of landownership in the polity.”252 Opposed to this system, according to Toumanoff, stands that of dynasticism. In a dynastic system, the “same elements as with feudalism” are at work, only “here the tribe is basic and the State secondary.” Dynasticism is the “result not of the disruption of a tribal society and of the meeting of Heroic-Age warriors with a decaying cosmocracy, but of a gradual evolution of tribes into a polity.”253 The evolution of a society into a dynastic form of sovereignty “is brought about by the coalescence [presumably over an extended period] of clans and tribes dwelling in close vicinity, within a geographically and—though not necessarily—ethnically uniﬁed area; by the acquisition of the prerequisites of statehood: sovereignty, independence or at least autonomy, and of course, territory; and by the achieving of a higher degree of civilization, manifested, for instance, in written records.”254 What prompts this evolution, besides outside forces, according to Toumanoff, is the development “of a new social force inside: the rising class of the dynasts.” The monarchical regimes that thus rise in a dynastic system “display a greater degree of interpenetration of religion and polity . . . for they inherit more fully the theophonism of the tribe and in fact develop it further.”255 The unity of such a system “rests on geographical, cultural and ethnic, rather than political foundations.” In such a society when “a number of small States coexist in a circumscribed area, the group of kingly dynasties ruling in them, though each unique in its own polity, come to form together, in the multiplicity of States, as it were one class.”256 This class cuts across political boundaries and comes to constitute “the highest stratum of the society of the entire area.” According to Toumanoff, this class might be called a dynastic aristocracy. Political uniﬁcation in such a society involves not the “complete

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1963, p. 38. Emphasis added. 1963, p. 39. 259 Toumanoff 1963, p. 39. Emphasis added. 260 Toumanoff 1963, p. 39. 261 The ﬁrst reference that he makes once he assesses the Sasanian political structure is to Christensen’s work, Christensen 1944. Toumanoff 1963, p. 40, n. 14. Emphasis added. 262 Toumanoff 1963, p. 40, n. 14.
258 Toumanoff

257 Toumanoff

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reduction of the fellow dynasts by the super dynasts, as in a centralized state . . . [but] the imposition upon them of only his political hegemony.” In such a system, a “hierarchy of political, but also economic, or at least ﬁscal, and social, relationships is established which holds together the super-dynast or High King, the other dynasts . . . in the common governance of the nation.”257 The sovereign power, here, is polygenetic. In contradistinction to this, a feudal regime “presupposes the fragmentation of the theoretically monogenetic sovereign power . . . to an essentially non-sovereign, noble group.” There is however, a greater difference between the two regimes that transcends political differences, and that is the condition of land tenure. While in dynastic regimes land ownership is “absolute and inalienable, feudal land tenure is conditional, contractual, and limited.”258 As with the polygenetic nature of the political regimes that are thus established, land tenure in a dynastic society is also polygenetic, dominium directum, “as opposed to the unitary, monogenetic one, which reduces the land tenure of all save the supreme lord to a mere dominium utile.” A feudal society, on the other hand, is one in which there is a complete “political, social, and economic dependence of vassal on suzerain.”259 Finally, a feudal state is something of “a middle way between dynasticism, on the one hand, and an anti-nobiliary and bureaucratic, total étatisme, such as characterized by the Roman Empire, on the other.”260 Toumanoff then proceeds to argue that Caucasian societies were indeed dynastic. In Iran and western Europe, however, it was a feudal system that supplanted dynasticism. Like scholars before and after him, however, Toumanoff based his study of Sasanian Iran on Christensen’s thesis, and not on an independent investigation of the Sasanian sociopolitical regime.261 While he maintained that in Iran “the super-dynastic Crown early became powerful and, moreover, imperial, and evinced étatiste tendencies”, he also stated that the “only dynastic group aa in Iran was, to give it its Sassanian name, that of shahrd¯r¯n or vassal kings.” Comparing the “seven great houses of the v¯spuhr¯n,” sociologically and juridia a cally, to the “Caucasian lesser, non-dynastic, nobility,” moreover, Toumanoff signiﬁcantly maintained that the “political and social importance of . . . [these Parthian families] was commensurable with that of the greatest of the Caucasian [dynastic] Princes.”262 It will be proposed in this study that a non-centrist investigation of Sasanian sociopolitical history highlights the fact that in spite of sporadic efforts of the Sasanians to create a feudal and, at times, an étatiste sociopolitical regime, the monarchy can in fact best be viewed as a dynastic regime. This dimension of Sasanian sociopolitical history can be corroborated with

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reference to the agnatic sociopolitical and cultural infrastructure that characterized Iranian society throughout the Sasanian period.263 There is little doubt that the seven great Pahlav families were in fact dynastic sociopolitical regimes, over whom, ideally, the Sasanians would have liked to establish an étatiste or a feudal regime, but with whom the Sasanians were forced to enter into a dynastic confederacy, a confederacy in which, by agreement, the Sasanians functioned as the Kings of Kings (Sh¯hansh¯h). a a 2.1.3 Early Sasanian period

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§1.2. 1983, p. 136. Emphasis added. 265 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 50, and n. 146, de Goeje, 836. ı . 266 Christensen 1944, p. 238.
264 Frye

263 See

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Even without our knowledge of the Pahlav dynastic families’ substantial power in the court of Ardash¯ I, where they ousted the representatives of the noble ır clan of Pers¯ and even without all the other evidence adduced here to subıs, stantiate the continued forceful legacy of the Pahlav families and the westernfocused nature of Sasanian attempts at centralization and urbanization during the third and subsequent centuries, the well-established fourth-century history of the Sasanians should have led to the realization that something is terribly skewed in this disproportionate emphasis on the centralizing measures undertaken by the Sasanians during the reigns of Ardash¯ I and Sh¯p¯r I (241–272). ır a u For while the third century has been characterized as the century of the monarchy, it has also been almost unanimously acknowledged that in “the fourth [century,] until Sh¯p¯r II [(309–379)] reached manhood, the nobility and the a u priesthood held sway.”264 Once Sh¯p¯r II comes of age, his reign is said to have a u witnessed the height of centralization in Iran. What is not highlighted in this appreciation of Sh¯p¯r II’s regime, however, is that he himself owed his very a u kingship to the designs of the nobility. The father of Sh¯p¯r II, Hormozd II a u (302–309), had left many sons behind. At the death of Hormozd II, as Ta. bar¯ narrates, the “great men of the state and the Zoroastrian priesthood saw their ı chance of securing a dominant inﬂuence in affairs, hence killed the natural suc¯ cessor to power, Hormozd II’s eldest son Adhar Narseh, blinded another, and forced a third to ﬂee to Roman territory, and then raised to nominal headship of the realm the infant Sh¯b¯r II, born forty days after his father’s death.”265 Of the a u ﬁrst thirty years of Sh¯p¯r II’s reign, that is until the 330s, we seem to know a u next to nothing. But the king’s belated renewed warfare against the Byzantines, led even Christensen to suspect that once of age, Sh¯p¯r II must have a u had “difﬁculties to surmount in the interior of his realm.”266 Whether or not these had to do with leashing the nobility who had put him on the throne as an infant can only be surmised. As we shall see later on in this study, a major factor behind the power of the Parthian dynasts, and the Sasanian king’s reliance on them, was the military prowess of the Parthians and the manpower that they contributed to the Sasanian army. It is therefore indicative of their

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continued strength at the height of Sh¯p¯r II’s reign that some of his major a u campaigns during this period were headed by the Parthian dynastic families. In the wars that Sh¯p¯r II undertook against emperor Julian (361–363)—who a u boasted of having among his own ranks the Arsacid king of Armenia, Arshak III—a general from the dynastic Pahlav family of the Mihr¯ns led the Sasanian a forces, gaining for the Iranians a victory that was crowned with the murder of Julian in 363 CE.267 In his war against the Byzantines over Armenia and against the Armenian Arsacids, likewise, Sh¯p¯r II was ultimately forced to send yet a u another Parthian dynastic family, the S¯ren. Even Christensen admitted that u during the fourth century, the “traditions of the Arsacid period continued to be strong in the blood of the great nobility, and the moment when a less energetic king unleashed the bridle of their ambitions, the danger of preponderance of the nobility and feudal anarchy” presented itself.268 Given the current paradigms in scholarship on the Sasanians, it is curious that this same scholarship acknowledges that after Sh¯p¯r II’s rule the monara u chy became a pawn in the hands of the nobility. In fact, the course of Sasanian history during the fourth century must force us to reconsider the rule of Sh¯a p¯r II and his ostensible success in centralizing the Sasanian polity. For the u reign of Sh¯p¯r II’s successor, Ardash¯ II (379–383), betrays the continued hold a u ır of the Parthian dynasts over the Sasanians. Ardash¯ II’s assumption of the ır throne seems to have been approved by the great men of the state. Once secured in power, however, Ardash¯ II “turned his attention to the great men and holdır ers of authority, and killed a great number of them.”269 Naturally, this proved to be Ardash¯ II’s undoing. For “the people then deposed him of power,” afır ter a reign of only four years.270 It is indicative of our mainstream monarchist perspective on Sasanian history that the above episode has been interpreted in the following terms: “Tabar¯ information that Ardash¯ II slaughtered many ı’s ır . nobility points to his being a personality who continued Sh¯b¯r’s policy of a u ﬁrm rule.” This may very well have been true. What seems to be forgotten in this picture, however, is that Ardash¯ II lost his very head as a result of ır this undertaking after only four years of rule! The next monarch, Sh¯p¯r III a u (383–388), did not fare much better than Ardash¯ II. In his accession speech ır Sh¯p¯r III declared to the nobility that henceforth deceit, tale-bearing, greed, a u and self-righteousness would have no place in his court and his polity.271 This,

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1944, p. 238. p. 235. It has been argued that the “belief that the farr or mythical majesty of kingship had descended on a Prince would cause nobles to rally to one member of the royal family rather than another.” Frye 1983, p. 134. In all objectivity, however, this perspective does not give due credence to sociopolitical and economic expediencies that must have informed the relationship of the Sasanians with their Parthian constituents. 269 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 67–68, de Goeje, 846. ı . 270 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 68, n. 183. Emphasis added. ı . 271 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, pp. 259–260: ı
268 Christensen 1944,

267 Christensen

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however, was too much to ask of the nobility. For the anecdotal narratives that brieﬂy trace the short rule of this Sasanian monarch also apprise us that after a rule of ﬁve years, the great men of state (al- uzam¯ ) and the members of noble . a houses (ahl al-buy¯t¯t) ﬁnally proceeded to kill the king by cutting “the ropes of ua a large tent Sh¯b¯r had had erected in one of his palace courts, [so that] the tent a u fell down on top of him.” As a result of the antagonism that his policies created among the great men of state and the members of noble houses, therefore, Sh¯a p¯r III also ruled for only ﬁve years.272 The successor to the throne, Bahr¯m u a IV (388–399), seems to have been dethroned under unclear circumstances. He is said to have enjoined his army commanders to obedience,273 and to have been a self-involved king who never held maz¯lim court.274 He too suffered a violent .a death. Even Christensen admitted, therefore, that Ardash¯ II, Sh¯p¯r III, and Bahır a u r¯m IV “were weak kings under whose reigns the grand nobility easily rea conquered the grounds that they had lost under the great Sh¯p¯r II,”275 and that a u these were “times of trouble for the Sasanian state, with enfeeblement of the crown and aggrandizement of the nobility.”276 The successors of Sh¯p¯r II, a u wrote Christensen, “were for the most part ﬁgures of little signiﬁcance, and so the death of Sh¯p¯r II marks the beginning of a period of close to 125 years[!] in a u which the king and the grandees of the empire vied for power. The great nobility, who had found an ally in the clergy,277 became, once again, a danger for the power of the royalty.”278 The end point of this rivalry, which apparently reached its height in the initial phases of Qub¯d’s reign (488–531), is presumed a to have been the reign of the quintessential Sasanian monarch, Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an (531–579), to be discussed shortly. ırv¯ As we have seen thus far, while the continued forceful participation of the nobility in Sasanian history is not disputed, the problem remains, nevertheless, that due to the nature of the sources at our disposal up to the rule of Yazdgird I (399–420), the actual noble families who came to wield such direct inﬂuence on the crown remain, for the most part, anonymous. Except for signiﬁcant yet solitary ﬁgures in the monarchically patronized accounts of the Xw ad¯ya N¯mag tradition as reﬂected in the Sh¯hn¯ma or the classical Arabic histories, a a a we are forced to deal up to this point with anonymous collectivities that are
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272 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 68, de Goeje, 846. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 534–535, Tha ¯lib¯ Ab¯ Mansur, T¯r¯kh-i ı a ı a ı, u aı . .¯ Tha ¯lib¯, 1989, translation of Tha ¯lib¯ 1900 by Muhammad Fada’ili (Tha ¯lib¯ 1989), p. 345; Ibn a ı a ı a ı Balkh¯ 1995, p. 148; D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 54. ı 273 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 69, de Goeje, 847. ı . 274 Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 198. ı 275 Christensen 1944, p. 253. Italics mine. 276 Paraphrased by Bosworth in Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 68–69, n. 184. Emphasis added. ı . 277 For a discussion of the presumed power of the clergy, see Chapter 5. 278 Christensen 1944, p. 260. Emphasis added.

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.2: YAZDGIRD I–II / S URENS

referred to by such generic terms as ahl al-buy¯t¯t, al- uzam¯, bozorg¯n, and so ua a a forth.279 From the rule of Yazdgird I, however, the nature of the information at our disposal begins to change. Henceforth, sporadically, yet meaningfully, the dynastic forces assume identity. From this point onward it is possible to identify the major noble families whose power and rivalries directed the affairs of the country in crucial ways. As we shall see, predominant among these noble families were the Parthian dynastic families. The information on these dynastic families becomes more and more substantial as we proceed further into Sasanian history—although the infrastructural base of the power of these families is not always explicit in our sources. Ironically, the emergence of the Pahlav families into the full light of history from Yazdgird I’s reign onward is most probably connected not only to the initial efforts of the Sasanians at creating a historiography, but, as Nöldeke acknowledged close to a century ago, also to the contribution of these same Parthian families to the creation of the Iranian national history and the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition during the Sasanian a a period itself. For invariably, as we shall see, the Pahlav families are depicted in a very positive light in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition. a a

2.2

Yazdgird I, Bahr¯m V G¯ r, and Yazdgird II / the S¯ rens a u u

We shall commence our story, therefore, with the rule of Yazdgird I the Sinner (399–420), an epithet bestowed upon him precisely by those who defeated him.280 Yazdgird I is said to have commenced his rule on a platform of justice. Now, bereft of its religio-ethical connotations,281 the platform of justice attributed to speciﬁc Sasanian kings must be understood in terms of their intention in agreeing to a dynastic/confederate arrangement. In contradistinction, the Sasanian kings who are accused of injustice, such as Khusrow II, are precisely those who did not abide by the natural order of things, that is, the explicit understanding that the Sasanian polity was a confederacy wherein the independent power of the Parthian dynastic families was left undisturbed.282 Thus, in the case of Yazdgird I the Sinner, in an inaugural speech to the elite of his realm, the king warned the families that he would restrain their unbridled powers. He warned those who had power in his realm, and through this power inﬂicted injustice upon the needy, that he would deal with them harshly and that they ought to be wary of his wrath.283 In elaborating on Yazdgird I’s

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279 It might still be possible to give some ﬂesh to these through the use of other sources, such as the Armenian. This examination has not been undertaken in the present study. 280 Christensen 1944, p. 269. 281 For an exposition of this, see §5.2.6. 282 That this should be couched in terms of justice ﬁts very well the Mithraic proclivity of most of the Pahlav families. See Chapter 5, especially pages 351 and 354. 283 Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, pp. 200–203; Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 537–539; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, pp. 264– ı a ı ı 265:

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§2.2: YAZDGIRD I–II / S URENS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

relations with the elite of his realm, Tabar¯ in fact maintains that Yazdgird I ı . “had begun his reign over them with lenience and equity; but then they, or at least some of them, had rejected that policy and not shown themselves submissive, as servants and slaves should in fact show themselves toward kings. This had impelled him into harsh policies: he had beaten people and shed blood.”284 2.2.1 Mihr Narseh S¯ ren u

Now during the rule of Yazdgird I begins the career of one of the most preeminent men of his kingdom, whom the king chose as his vizier, Mihr Narseh.285 Narseh, son of Bur¯zih (Gur¯zih), went by the name of Mihr Narseh and the a a title of haz¯rbandih, which is most probably a corruption of the title haz¯rbed a a (hazarpat), the Chief of the Thousands.286 As Khorenats‘i and Łazar P‘arpec‘i inform us, Mihr Narseh belonged to the S¯ren Pahlav family.287 Mihr Narseh is u
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p. 98, de Goeje, 865. Emphasis added. on Mihr Narseh’s long career, and the fact that forty years later he appears as the general of the army, Nöldeke has argued that it seems improbable that Mihr Narseh was appointed as the minister immediately after Yazdgird I’s accession to power as maintained by Tabar¯ Nöldeke 1879, ı. . p. 76, n. 1, Nöldeke 1979, p. 177, n. 8. Based partially on Nöldeke’s statement, and the fact that there seems to have been a change of policy for the worse toward the Christians of the realm in the latter parts of Yazdgird I’s reign, Christensen implicitly argues that Mihr Narseh might have been appointed toward the end of the reign of Yazdgird I. Christensen 1944, p. 273. From this Zaehner concludes that it was toward the end of Yazdgird I’s reign that Mihr Narseh was appointed. But Nöldeke never speciﬁed a date for Mihr Narseh’s appointment, and Christensen only postulated a late appointment based on Nöldeke. In any event the whole reasoning seems unsound as Mihr Narseh could have been appointed in his mid-twenties for all we know. And in any event the whole discussion is not crucial to the gist of the arguments that follow. It must be noted that the story of Mihr Narseh and his family is not found in Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 537–539. a ı 286 Nöldeke 1879, p. 76, n. 2, Nöldeke 1979, p. 177, n. 9; Tabar¯ 1999, p. 72, de Goeje, 849; Gyselen ı . 2001a, pp. 20–22. 287 As we shall see shortly, the S¯ ren continued to hold the most important ofﬁces in the Sasanian u domains during the reign of Yazdgird I (399–420), Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438) and Yazdgird II (438– a u 457). According to Khorenats‘i, during the reign of Bahr¯m V G¯r (Vram), the minister of the a u Aryans, the hazarpat, “was of the Surenean Pahlav” family. Khorenats i 1978, p. 340. In fact, Bahr¯m V G¯r, under whose rule the S¯ren continued in power, had the S¯renid minister persuade a u u u u Sahak the Great of Armenia, also of the S¯ren family, to willingly abdicate his position, underlining their common descent in order to convince Sahak. The Surenean Pahlav hazarpat told Sahak that since “you are my blood and kin, I speak out of consideration for your own good.” Khorenats i 1978, p. 340. The kinship of Sahak to the Surenean Pahlav hazarpat is reiterated in other places. Ibid., p. 344. Łazar P‘arpec‘i mentions the hazarpat of Yazdgird as the infamous Mihr Narseh. He also calls him, like Moses, the hazarpat of the Aryans. Parpeci 1991, p. 75. In the court of Bahr¯m V G¯r (Vram), Łazar P‘arpec‘i calls him the Sur¯n Pahlav, the hazarpat of the royal court. a u e Ibid., p. 58. Based on a genealogy that Tabar¯ provides for this family, which is found only in the ı . Sprenger manuscript, however, Christensen and Nöldeke suspected that Mihr Narseh belonged to the Isfand¯ ar family. Nöldeke 1879, pp. 76–77, 139–140, n. 2, Nöldeke 1979, pp. 170–171, 241, ıy¯ n. 81; Christensen 1944, p. 104, n. 1. Nöldeke, however, as he himself admits, was only guessing this genealogical connection.
285 Based

284 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

.

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said to have come from the town (qarya) of Abruw¯n in the district of Dasht-i a B¯r¯ in the southwestern province of F¯rs, in Ardash¯ Khurrah. a ın a ır The extensive powers of the S¯ren family during the combined reigns of u Yazdgird I (399–420), Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438), and Yazdgird II (438–457) are a u reﬂected in all of our sources. Tabar¯ devotes an extensive section to this Pahlav ı . family, without identifying them as S¯rens,288 and praises them highly. Of u Mihr Narseh’s several sons he singles out three as having reached an outstanding position. According to Tabar¯ one of the sons of Mihr Narseh was called ı, . Zurv¯nd¯d and was chosen to pursue a career in religious law. So strong was a a the continuity of the power base of the S¯ren family that under the rule of u Bahr¯m V G¯r, Zurv¯nd¯d was appointed the Chief herbad of the realm, a posia u a a tion second only to that of the Chief m¯bad.289 A second son of Mihr Narseh, o M¯jusnas, or M¯hgushnasp, with the rank of v¯stry¯sh¯n s¯l¯r, Chief Agricula a a o a aa turalist,290 was in control of the ﬁnancially crucial department of the land tax all through the reign of Bahr¯m V G¯r. a u Yet the powers of the S¯rens through the ﬁrst half of the ﬁfth century were u not limited to inﬂuential standing within the clergy and extensive control over the agricultural wealth of the empire. A third important ofﬁce was also ﬁlled by a third son of Mihr Narseh, K¯rd¯r,291 who was supreme commander of a a the army, and held the title rath¯sht¯r¯n s¯l¯r,292 a rank, according to Tabar¯ a a a aa ı, . higher than that of sp¯hbed and near to that of arjbadh (hargbed). Lofty cona structions in the region are attributed to him.293 Not only did the S¯rens exert u a tremendous inﬂuence over the administrative, ﬁnancial, and military affairs of the Sasanian state during this period. In their cooperation and connection to the religious hierarchy, they also exerted a moral hold on their contemporary society. At Jirih in F¯rs, Mihr Narseh established a ﬁre temple, called a Mihr Nars¯ an, which, according to Tabar¯ was “still in existence today, with ıy¯ ı, . its ﬁre burning to this present moment.”294 As if this were not enough, in the process of founding four other villages in the environs of Abruw¯n, Mihr a Narseh established four more ﬁre temples—one for each village, naming these after himself and his sons: Far¯z-mar¯-¯war-khud¯y¯, Zurv¯nd¯dh¯n, K¯rd¯da aa a a a a a a a h¯n, and M¯jusnas¯n. The three gardens that Mihr Narseh constructed in this a a a area are said to have contained 12,000 date palms, 12,000 olive trees, and 12,000
288 Nöldeke 1879, pp. 110–113, Nöldeke 1979, pp. 169–173; Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 103–105, de Goeje, ı . 868–870. 289 Nöldeke 1879, p. 110, Nöldeke 1979, p. 172. For a detailed discussion of the different classes of the Zoroastrian clergy, among which were included the high priests, the herbads and the m¯bads, o see Kreyenbroek, Philip G., ‘The Zoroastrian Priesthood after the Fall of the Sasanian Empire’, in Transition Periods in Iranian History, Societas Iranologica Europaea, pp. 151–166, Fribourg-enBrisgau, 1987 (Kreyenbroek 1987), p. 151. 290 Nöldeke 1879, pp. 110–111, Nöldeke 1979, pp. 172, 197, n. 100. 291 K¯rd¯r is most probably the title and not the name of this ﬁgure. See also Khurshudian 1998, a a p. 280. 292 Tafazzoli 2000, p. 9. 293 Nöldeke 1879, p. 111, Nöldeke 1979, p. 172. 294 Nöldeke 1879, p. 111, Nöldeke 1979, pp. 172–173.

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thousand, of course, is one of the eschatological numbers in the Zoroastrian tradition. p. 72, n. 192, de Goeje, 849. . 297 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 103, de Goeje, 868. ı . 298 During Bahr¯m V G¯ r’s reign, Mihr Narseh held the ofﬁce of Buzurjfarmadh¯r, that is, wuzurg a u a fram¯d¯r (prime minister). Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 99, 105, de Goeje, 866, 870. For the ofﬁce of wuzurg a a ı . fram¯d¯r and its relation to haz¯rbed, see Khurshudian 1998, pp. 76–90. a a a 299 Nöldeke 1879, p. xxiii, n. 1, Nöldeke 1979, p. 37, n. 23.
296 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

295 Twelve

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cypress trees.295 Tabar¯ maintains that these “villages, with the gardens and the ı . ﬁre temples, have remained continuously in the hands of his descendants, who are well known till today, and it has been mentioned that all these remain in the best possible condition at the present time.”296 Mihr Narseh’s religious zeal was evident in his constructions of numerous ﬁre temples. This zeal seems to have been intensiﬁed by his implacable hatred of Christians. It is a function of the hold of this Pahlav family over the monarchy that the persecution of Christians under Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438) and the ﬂight of Christian refugees a u to Byzantine territory are said to have been largely the result of the inﬂuence of Mihr Narseh—who instigated as well the Perso–Byzantine war of 421–422— over the Sasanians during this period. Mihr Narseh himself led the Sasanian armies against Byzantium, in which he “played a notable role . . . and returned home having achieved all that Bahr¯m V G¯r had desired, and the latter heaped a u honors unceasingly on Mihr Nars¯ 297 Mihr Narseh continued to hold the ı.” ofﬁce of prime minister, haz¯rbed,298 throughout the reign of Yazdgird II (438– a 457). It is indicative of the independent historiographical contributions of these Parthian dynastic families to the formation of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition that, a a according to Nöldeke, in a number of places in the Sprenger manuscript, Ta. bar¯ mentions a certain m¯bad called Ab¯ Ja far Zar¯tusht, the son of Ahr¯ , ı o u a . a who lived at the time of the Abb¯sid caliph al-Mu tasim (833–842) “as the nara . rator of the last wars of Mihr Nars¯ with the Byzantines . . . and probably [for ı the name here has been changed] as the narrator for the events surrounding the family of Mihr Narseh.”299 Here, then, we have evidence of a tremendously powerful Parthian dynastic family, the house of S¯ren, who were basically the confederates in rule of u Yazdgird I (399–420), Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438), and Yazdgird II (438–457) for a a u period of close to half a century. Even if the S¯ren family rose to prominence u only at the end of Yazdgird I’s reign, they were literally at the center of power for a substantial period of time. While we do not know to which period Tabar¯ ı’s . observation of the continued social power of the family refers, it is signiﬁcant that there was a tremendous continuity of the land holdings of the family in subsequent centuries, most likely into the post-conquest period, for it was only at this point that historians began using such phrases as “to this day”. We are fortunate in having this sort of detailed information about the infrastructural power of the Pahlav. The nature of our information and the positive light that it sheds on this Pahlav family most probably hint at the direct hand that the family had in writing this segment of the national history. They are portrayed

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300 Gyselen 301 Gyselen

2001a, p. 21, and note 45. 2001a. See also §2.6.1. 302 Gyselen 2001a, p. 42–43, seals 3a, 3b. 303 See page 107ff and §2.7.1.

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in extremely positive terms in almost all our histories. While the rivalries of the dynastic families vis-à-vis the crown and among themselves assume a greater and greater focus through the rest of the Sasanian history, the sort of detailed information that we get about the actual basis of the S¯rens’ power is lacking u for other Pahlav dynasties in subsequent Sasanian history. Notwithstanding, the information on the S¯rens in the ﬁrst half of the ﬁfth century can be conu sidered indicative of the power that accrued to other Parthian dynastic families in later Sasanian history. But it is appropriate to pause and consider the precise nature of the S¯ren’s u power during their almost half a century of rule. Here we have a family that basically shared the government with the Sasanian monarchy. The S¯ren were u the haz¯rbeds, or prime ministers, of the realm. Isolated examples, pertaining a to different junctures of Sasanian history, testify to the tremendous power of the haz¯rbeds in the Sasanian polity. As Gyselen points out, a royal inscription a of the late third, early fourth century, “names the haz¯rbed among those who a upheld [the Sasanian] Narseh in his reconquest of the throne.”300 As we shall see, a haz¯rbed of Hormozd IV’s (579–590) reign, one Wahr¯m Adurm¯h,301 who a a ¯ a held this ofﬁce during Khusrow I’s reign as well, was among the dynastic leaders murdered by Hormozd IV in the course of his efforts at restraining the powers of the nobility in his realm. A third, tremendously powerful haz¯rbed of a late Sasanian history, Wistaxm302 (the infamous Vist¯hm of Hormozd IV’s and a Khusrow II’s reigns, from the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family), was, as we shall a see,303 not only responsible for bringing Khusrow II to power, but led a rebellion that crippled the Sasanians late in their reign. There is every indication, moreover, that as the examples of the S¯rens and the Ispahbudh¯n indicate, u a the tremendously powerful ﬁgure of haz¯rbed was generally chosen from the a Parthian dynastic families. From the Pahlav S¯rens of the ﬁrst half of the ﬁfth u century, however, were not only the haz¯rbeds of the realm chosen, but also the a v¯stry¯sh¯n s¯l¯r (Chief Agriculturalist) and the rath¯sht¯r¯n s¯l¯r (Commander a o a aa a a a aa of the Army). The S¯rens, in other words, had a central hold over the adminu istration, military, and treasury of the realm, not to mention the leadership of the clergy in F¯rs. All this they managed to achieve at the very center of the a empire. They had extensive, productive lands in their domains and exerted a direct inﬂuence over the spiritual direction of the regions under their control. Naturally, with all of this came the manpower that sustained their authority, hence their leadership in the wars that the Sasanians waged during this period. As we shall see, moreover, the military power of these Pahlav families was itself predicated upon the fact that they not only provided the backbone of the Sasanian army with their cavalry, but, through their peasant population, their slave contingents, and possibly mercenaries, also with their infantry. Slave ownership

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was in fact a key source of wealth for the dynastic families. We have evidence of slave ownership among the S¯ren family as far back as the Arsacid period, when u Plutarch informs us that the Parthian general Surena had many slaves in his ¯ army.304 After the siege of Amid, in southeastern Anatolia,305 during Qub¯d’s a reign (488–531), certain “senior commanders in the Persian army asked Kawad [Qub¯d] to hand over one-tenth of the captives to them, arguing that the deaths a of so many of their relatives during the siege had to be requited.”306 At any rate, Elish¯ summed up the powers of Mihr Narseh best: “He was the Prince and the e ˙ commander (hramanatar) of the whole Persian Empire . . . There was no one at all who could escape his clutches. Not only the greatest and the least, but even the king himself obeyed his command.”307 What seems to have been speciﬁc to the S¯rens, however, is that their inu timate collaboration with the Sasanians ran throughout the course of Sasanian history. In this sense they can be said to have maintained—as Khorenats‘i’s folkloric tradition and the list of the nobility in the inscriptions of the ﬁrst Sasanian kings in the inscriptions of Ka ba-i Zartusht (ŠKZ) conﬁrm—the alliance that they had initially made with the early Sasanians at the inception of Ardash¯ I’s rise to power, so much so that they might even have come to adopt ır the title of P¯rs¯g itself.308 The original base of the S¯rens was the region of a ı u S¯ an in southeastern Iran, a region incorporated into the quarter of the south ıst¯ after Khusrow I’s reforms. The proximity of the traditional territory of the S¯u rens to the Sasanians’ home territory in F¯rs, in other words, might explain the a strong hold that this Pahlav dynastic family exerted over the Sasanians at the very center of their power. What powers could have accrued to the rest of the seven great dynastic powers of the realm in their own territories, and away from the reaches of the central authorities during the ﬁrst half of the ﬁfth century, we can only imagine. Whether or not the S¯rens adopted the epithet P¯rs¯ u a ıg, there is no doubt that they were a Parthian family. The reliance of Yazdgird I, Bahr¯m V G¯r, and Yazdgird II on this great dynastic Parthian family for a u the very administration and control of their realm is symptomatic of a general
304 Perikhanian 1983, p. 635. The title of Mihr Narseh, haz¯rbandak, has also been interpreted to a mean the “owner of a thousand slaves.” Ibid., pp. 627–681 and 635. 305 A strategically important city on the west bank of the Tigris, and the intersection of the north– ¯ south and east–west trade routes, the city of Amid (Amida, modern day D¯ arbakr), was a bone ıy¯ of contention between the Byzantines and the Sasanians, from the early fourth century onward. Sellwood, David, ‘Amida’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, p. 938, New York, 1991 (Sellwood 1991), p. 998. 306 The Persians then “murdered the captives with a variety of techniques that none of our sources had the stomach to report.” Joshua the Stylite, The Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite, Liverpool University Press, 2000, translated with notes and introduction by Frank R. Trombley and John W. Watt (Joshua the Stylite 2000), pp. 62–63. 307 Elish¯ 1982, p. 140. Emphasis mine. For Elish¯, see footnote 309. e e ˙ ˙ 308 Garsoian, in league with Justi and Christensen, suspects that the S¯ ren P¯rs¯ are actually a u a ıg branch of the S¯rens. Buzandaran 1989, The Epic Histories: Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘, Harvard u University Press, 1989, translation and commentary by Nina Garsoian (Buzandaran 1989), p. 410, and the sources cited therein.

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trend in Sasanian history from the reign of the Sasanian king P¯ uz (459–484) ır¯ onward: the monarchical institution itself was sustained, and in fact could not have functioned without the help of at least one of the powerful Parthian dynastic families of the realm. 2.2.2 Yazdgird I

The power of Mihr Narseh, as well as the dynastic structure of the Sasanian army during this period, is clearly borne out by the account of Elish¯.309 Ace ˙ cording to Elish¯, in Yazdgird I’s wars against the Armenians, postulated by e ˙ some to have been instigated by Mihr Narseh himself, the S¯renid hazarpat u gathered the armies of nobility in order to ﬁght against the Armenian rebels. Mihr Narseh then “addressed the greatest nobles at the king’s behest, saying: ‘Each of you remember the command of the great king and set as your goal the fame of bravery. Choose death over a cowardly life. Do not forget the oil, the crown, the laurels, and the liberal gifts which will be granted you from the royal treasury. You are lords each of your own province, and you possess great power. You yourselves know the bravery of the Armenians and the heroic valor of each one of them. If perchance you are defeated, though alive you will be deprived of the great property you now have. Remember your wives and children, remember your dear friends.’ Likewise he reminded them of their many companions who had ﬂed; although they survived the battle, they had received the penalty of death by the sword. Their sons and daughters and their entire families had been banished, and all their ancestral lands taken from them.”310 In other words, Mihr Narseh organized an army from various regions. Among the contingents that were thus gathered, Elish¯ mentions “the contingents of the Aparhatsik‘, the e ˙ Katishk‘, the Huns and the Ge˜ and all the rest of the army’s elite . . . [which lk, were] assembled in one place.”311 The Aparhatsik‘ were the people of Apar, that is, Abarshahr, the region of N¯ ap¯r of medieval Muslim geographers; ısh¯ u the Katishk‘, a population from Her¯t; and the Ge˜ the people of G¯ an.312 a lk, ıl¯ The hazarpat Mihr Narseh, then, had not only the power to dictate foreign policy, but to gather the regional armies under his command. While the identities of the commanders of these armies are unfortunately not given, there is little doubt that the armies thus gathered were those of the dynastic families of the realm, who “are lords each of [their] own province, and . . . possess great power.”

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309 Elish¯ was an Armenian priest and historian, who wrote an account of the Armenian uprising e ˙ of 451 against the Sasanians. While he claims to have been an eye-witness to these events, it is now generally agreed that he probably lived toward the end of the sixth century. It is also agreed, however, that this does not detract from the authenticity of his writing. Elish¯ 1982. e ˙ 310 Elish¯ 1982, p. 167. Emphasis added. e ˙ e 311 Elish¯ 1982, pp. 167–168. ˙ 312 He then set these in order and “extended his battle line . . . he disposed the three thousand armed men to the right and left of each elephant, and surrounded himself with the elite of his warriors. In this fashion he strengthened the center [of the army] like a powerful tower or an impregnable castle. He distributed banners, unfurled ﬂags and ordered them to be ready at the sound of the great trumpet.” Elish¯ 1982, p. 168, nos. 10, 11, and 12 respectively. e ˙

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For the purposes of later Sasanian history, it is important to keep in mind, therefore, that Mihr Narseh’s armies were regional armies of the realm. Elish¯’s account also betrays the circumstances through which Yazdgird I e came˙to be given the epithet the Sinner. Having had the thorough cooperation of one dynastic family, the Pahlav S¯rens, Yazdgird I attempted to impose a u feudal arrangement on them by usurping their land. It is rather certain that the policies pursued by Yazdgird I did not sit well with the grandees of the empire— who, except for the S¯ren, remain anonymous in our sources—and that these u were meant to undermine their wealth and power. According to Tha ¯lib¯ the a ı, elite became base during Yazdgird I’s reign, and “the leaders of the P¯rs¯ were a ıs destroyed.”313 It is said that he was “ill thinking, ill-natured, and bloodthirsty.” He would use any excuse in order to usurp a grandee’s wealth. In this way he “ran the great families into desperation.”314 The Sh¯hn¯ma devotes an extensive a a section to Yazdgird I: When he took control of affairs his grandeur increased, but his kindness diminished. The wise became base next to him and he forgot the kingly ways. The nobility lost all their repute with him. His nature turned toward tyranny.315 The m¯bads were, likewise, unsettled by his policies.316 In o fact the autocratic rule that Yazdgird I sought to impose, with the very help of the S¯ren dynastic family, was most probably of the sort that the other nou bility of the realm could not stomach. And hence the fate of the unfortunate king Yazdgird I the Sinner: he is said to have been kicked to death by a white horse that miraculously appeared from the Chishmih-i S¯ or Chishmih-i Sabz u (the green spring) next to the ancient city of Tus, in northeastern Iran,317 and .¯
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Signiﬁcantly, Ferdows¯ section on Yazdgird I is more elaborate than that of Tabar¯ Ferdows¯ ı’s ı. ı . 1971, vol. VII, pp. 264–303; Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 70–74, de Goeje, 847–850. By contrast, Tha ¯lib¯ ı a ı . devotes barely a page and a half to him. Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 347–348, Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 537–538. a ı a ı Ibn Balkh¯ rendition is likewise short. Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, pp. 200–203. ı’s ı 316 See page 335 below. 317 Monchi-Zadeh, Davoud, Topographisch-Historische Studien zum Iranischen Nationalepos, Wiesbaden, 1975 (Monchi-Zadeh 1975), pp. 201–202, and the notes cited therein. The color green and the messianic symbolism of a white horse appearing from a body of water in order to kill an unjust king are all symbolic representations of the God Mihr, in whose safekeeping not only the custody of the farr (xwarra or Divine Glory) rests, but who also bestows this farr on a suitable royal candidate;

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inexplicably disappeared after trampling the king to death. This narrative is sure to have been inserted in the account of the king’s death by the Parthian dynasts who cherished the traditions of Parthava at the expense of Pers¯ for ıs, it puts Yazdgird I in the company of other illustrious ﬁgures who met their deaths in one of the capitals of Parthava.318 Nöldeke realized this: “I think that this narrative was constructed with a purpose in mind . . . They had killed the king, who was despised by the nobility, secretly and in distant Hyrcania (Gurg¯n), and later spread this story.”319 Nöldeke also suspected that Ferdowa s¯ had fecklessly grafted this tradition onto traditions of his hometown, Tus. ı .¯ This tradition, however, certainly belongs to a far earlier period than that of Ferdows¯ Whether Hyrcania or Tus, the place remains squarely within the ı. .¯ traditional homeland of the Parthians and within the realm of at least three powerful Parthian dynastic families. In fact, among the dynastic families whose power had been undermined by Yazdgird I, the one Ferdows¯ does list is the ı Kan¯rang¯ an family. The Kan¯rang¯ an, as we shall see, was a Pahlav family a ıy¯ a ıy¯ who had their traditional ﬁefdom in Tus.320 .¯ 2.2.3 Bahr¯m V G¯ r a u The power vacuum left at the death of Yazdgird I set the stage for the intrigues of the dynastic families. As Tabar¯ notes, having done away with Yazdgird ı . I, the elite decided not to support any of his offspring as the successor to the crown, and settled instead on a prince from “a collateral line of descent from the ﬁrst Sasanian king” called Khusrow.321 We have a number of lists of these nobles who conspired against Yazdgird I’s offspring. While two of these lists are anachronistic superimpositions of powerful Parthian ﬁgures of the sixth century onto a mid-ﬁfth century account, the list is nonetheless signiﬁcant for the dynastic leaders it mentions.322 Among the nobility listed in Bahr¯m V a
see §5.3.1, especially page 354ff. 318 Ibn Balkh¯ in fact gives a folkloric rendition of this that is quite signiﬁcant: “They say that [the ı horse] was an angel that god . . . made into the guise of a horse and [given the task] of ridding the world of his oppression.” Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 203: ı
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In Nuzhat al-Qul¯b, Hamdall¯h Mustawf¯ also mentions that the pious, who hold vigil by night u . a ı near the spring, “behold on the borders of the spring, the forms of water-camels, and water-cows, and water-men [!] . . . seen to graze all around it.” Hamdall¯h Mustawf¯ Nuzhat al-Qul¯b, Leiden, a ı, u . 1919 (Hamdall¯h Mustawf¯ 1919), p. 18f, cited in Monchi-Zadeh 1975, p. 201. Tus, the ﬁefdom of a ı . .¯ the Kan¯rang¯ an, has a long history of having dignitaries been brought to their death. For this see a ıy¯ Pourshariati, Parvaneh, ‘Khur¯s¯n and the Crisis of Legitimacy: A Comparative Historiographical aa Approach’, in Neguin Yavari, Lawrence G. Potter, and Jean-Marc Ran Oppenheim (eds.), Views From the Edge: Essays in Honor of Richard W. Bulliet, pp. 208–229, Columbia University Press, 2004 (Pourshariati 2004). 319 Nöldeke 1979, p. 178, n. 10. 320 See page 266ff. 321 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 87, de Goeje, 858. ı . 322 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, p. 387. Besides Ferdows¯ list, we also have one in D¯ ı ı’s ınawar¯ 1960, ı p. 55, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 59. See page 109ff for further discussion. ı

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§2.2: YAZDGIRD I–II / S URENS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

G¯r’s realm, Ferdows¯ includes members of the Parthian dynastic families of u ı the K¯rin, the Mihr¯n and the Kan¯rang¯ an: Gostaham, or Vist¯hm, who was a a a ıy¯ a the minister (dast¯r); Kharr¯d-i Mihr P¯ uz, Farh¯d-i Mihr Burz¯ Bahr¯m and u a ır¯ a ın, a P¯ uz-i Bahr¯m¯ an, and Rah¯m.323 ır¯ a ıy¯ a After the news of his father’s death in 420 reached him, the Prince Sh¯p¯r— a u who had been appointed king of Armenia by Yazdgird I in 416 CE324 —hastened to Ctesiphon to take over the throne of his father. But it was not to be. At the capital he was killed by the nobles and the clergy of the realm.325 At this juncture Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438) enters the story. The romanticized story a u of Bahr¯m V G¯r’s heroic assumption of the throne, in which the prince is a u forced to snatch the regalia from the midst of two lions, among other things, need not detain us here.326 According to Ferdows¯ when, after seven years ı, of rule, Yazdgird I fathered Bahr¯m V G¯r and the astrologers predicted that a u the child would become a great king, the m¯bads, the king’s minister, and the o elite gathered and, anxious that the crown prince would have the same nature as the king, proposed to the king that he should send the prince abroad for his
323 Rah¯m is certainly a Mihr¯n, as we shall see in §2.3 below. In Chapter 5, we will show that a a the theophoric dimensions of most of these names, incorporating the name of the Mithraic Burz¯ ın Mihr ﬁre of Khur¯s¯n, or simply the god Mihr, also points to the Pahlav afﬁliation of these ﬁgures. aa There is a strong possibility that the Bahr¯m¯ an mentioned also belong to the Mihr¯n family. a ıy¯ a Other nobles mentioned are G¯ an Sh¯h, the king of Rayy—Rayy, as we shall see, was an ancient ıl¯ a center of the Mihr¯n; D¯d Burz¯ who was in control of Z¯bulist¯n, K¯rin-i Borzmihr (Burz¯ a a ın, a a a ınMihr), and ﬁnally R¯dburz¯ Ferdows¯ Sh¯hn¯ma, Tehran, 1935, edited by S. Naﬁsi (Ferdows¯ a ın. ı, a a ı 1935), p. 2196. Neither Ferdows¯ nor D¯ ı’s ınawar¯ list should be trusted, however, for, as we will ı’s argue on page 109ff below, they are in fact anachronistic lists that belong to the period of Khusrow II and his struggle against Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ which has been superimposed onto the struggle a u ın, of Bahr¯m V G¯r with the nobility. It is most probably as a result of this that Christensen, who a u took the list at face value, observed that it is remarkable that within the list of names provided by D¯ ınawar¯ we do not see the name of the S¯renid Mihr Narseh, the powerful minister of Yazdgird ı u I and later of Bahr¯m V G¯r. Christensen 1944, p. 275. This also explains why the wars that Baha u r¯m V G¯r is supposed to have undertaken in the east sound so anachronistic given the historical a u conditions. See Nöldeke 1879, p. 99, n. 1, p. 103, n. 1, Nöldeke 1979, p. 189, n. 72, and p. 192, n. 80. 324 Khorenats i 1978, p. 323. Sh¯p¯ r had ruled over Armenia for four years at this point. Ibid., a u p. 326. See also Chaumont 1991, as well as footnote 192. 325 Khorenats i 1978, p. 326; also see Tabar¯ 1999, p. 87, n. 229. Ferdows¯ names these in the ı ı . following account:
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It is important to note that, while this list appears in the Sh¯hn¯ma, it is not given by Tha ¯lib¯ a a a ı. Moreover, in Tabar¯ account, of all the nobility, besides Mihr Narseh and his family, only the ı’s . name of Vist¯hm is given. Nöldeke 1879, p. 96, Nöldeke 1979, p. 162. a 326 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 91–92, de Goeje, 861–862. Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 210. ı ı .

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.2: YAZDGIRD I–II / S URENS

upbringing.327 The stage was thus set for the exile of Bahr¯m V G¯r to Munda u hir, the king of H¯ 328 Upon Yazdgird I’s death Bahr¯m V G¯r claimed the ıra. a u . throne but was faced with the stern opposition of the elite of the realm.329 Bahr¯m V G¯r tried to appease them by acknowledging all “[of which] they have a u accused Yazdgird I of responsibility.” In assurance, Bahr¯m V G¯r promised the a u nobility of the realm that if God would bestow upon him the royal power, he would “put right all that he [i.e., Yazdgird I] has done wrong and repair what he has split asunder.” Bahr¯m V G¯r allegedly even asked for a year of probationa u ary rule in order to fulﬁll his promise.330 Nöldeke remarks that the Sprenger manuscript details these promises as the lowering of taxes, an increase in the army’s pay, and the promise of even greater ofﬁces to the nobility.331 As there does not seem to have been a standing army at the disposal of the Sasanians prior to the reforms of Khusrow I, the ﬁrst two conditions presented to Bahr¯m V a G¯r by the dynastic families in lieu of their agreement to his kingship must u have involved one and the same thing. For prior to Khusrow I’s reforms,332 the money the dynasts calculated for the upkeep of each cavalry that they provided was deducted from the amount that they were required to direct to the central treasury. One of Bahr¯m V G¯r’s ﬁrst acts, therefore, was to resume payment a u of the army in a timely fashion.333 He then proceeded to make amends with the nobility who had initially opposed him. He gathered all those whom Yazdgird I had dispersed, and allocated, or, most probably, restored to them various regions (kishvar) and their revenues (badr).334 Bahr¯m V G¯r also maintained a u
pp. 2078–2079, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, pp. 266–267. ı Tabar¯ 1999, p. 86, n. 227, ı . de Goeje, 857–858. The city of al-H¯ was the capital of the Sasanian vassal kingdom of the Arab . ıra Lakhmids, situated on the “fringes of the Iraqi alluvium.” See Beeston, A.F.L. and Shahîd, Irfan, ‘H¯ . ıra’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007 (Beeston and Shahîd 2007); Donner 1981, pp. 45–47. 329 According to Tha ¯lib¯ at least three groups were by now vying to put their own candidate in a ı power: those who were inclined to Bahr¯m V G¯r, those who favored Khusrow, and others with a u their own candidate for the Sasanian kingship. At any rate, it is clear that the dynastic forces that conspired in the murder of Yazdgird I and against the succession of his offspring were those whose authority had been directly undermined by Yazdgird I. This is articulated in no uncertain terms by Ferdows¯ Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2097–2098, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, pp. 285–286. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, ı. ı ı a ı p. 550, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 355. a ı 330 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 90, de Goeje, 860. ı . 331 Nöldeke 1879, p. 187, n. 62, Nöldeke 1979, p. 94, n. 2. 332 See §2.5.1. 333 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, p. 309, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2110. ı ı 334 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2120: ı
328 Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2080–2085, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, pp. 266–273. ı ı
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327 Ferdows¯ 1935, ı

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with the following variant in Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, p. 309: ı
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§2.3: P IRUZ / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

the S¯renid Mihr Narseh in the ofﬁce of prime minister.335 u 2.2.4 Yazdgird II

Of the rather long career of Yazdgird II (438–457) our sources have very little to offer. Invariably their treatment is short.336 Invariably as well, they give a very positive representation of the king, applauding his justice, although a tradition preserved in Tha ¯lib¯ highlights the continuing strife between the king and the a ı dynastic families. According to Tha ¯lib¯ Yazdgird II followed for a while his a ı, father’s policies, presumably vis-à-vis the elite. But after a while, he turned away from these. When the elite informed him that his new policies had offended the populace, he objected that “it is not correct for you to presume that the ways in which my father behaved towards you, maintaining you close to him, and bestowing upon you all that bounty, are incumbent upon all the kings that come after him . . . each age has its own customs.”337 Yazdgird II did not name either of his two sons, Hormozd and P¯ uz, as his successor, delegating the matter of ır¯ succession “to the elite of the realm and the major marzb¯ns.”338 What is certain a about Yazdgird II’s reign, however, besides his many wars, is that Mihr Narseh continued as his vizier. While ultimately defeated, the S¯renid Pahlav dynasty u led the campaigns of Yazdgird II in the east as well as the west, and is accused by Elish¯ of being “guilty of treachery on many counts . . . [and bearing] ree ˙ sponsibility for the ruin of Armenia.”339 On account of these defeats, Mihr Narseh “was [ﬁnally] dismissed to his home in great dishonor.”340 The total silence of the sources on Yazdgird II’s twenty years of rule is, nevertheless, hard to explain. Which dynastic families, besides that of the S¯rens, played precisely u what roles during Bahr¯m V G¯r and Yazdgird II’s reigns unfortunately cannot a u be ascertained given the sources at our disposal.

2.3

P¯ uz / the Mihr¯ns ır¯ a

As much as the S¯rens were intimately and powerfully enmeshed in Sasanian u rule, the very rise to power of P¯ uz (459–484), the son of Yazdgird II, was ır¯ brought about through the efforts of a member of another dynastic family:
335 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 99, 105, de Goeje, 866, 870. Tabar¯ adds that Bahr¯m V G¯ r “gave them hopes ı ı a u . . of future beneﬁcence.” Ibid., p. 93, de Goeje, 863. 336 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 106–109, de Goeje, 871–872; Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2263–2264, Ferdows¯ 1971, ı ı ı . a ı a ı ınawar¯ 1960, p. 58, ı vol. VIII, pp. 6–7; Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 569–573, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 365–368; D¯ D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 62, a total of two lines; and Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 216, a total of four and a half ı ı lines. 337 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 571–572, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 367. a ı a ı 338 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 573, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 368. a ı a ı 339 Elish¯ attributes these defeats to the “disunity of his army,” and maintains that after the defeat e ˙ Mihr Narseh was “much afraid, for he himself was the cause of all the disasters that had occurred.” Elish¯ 1982, p. 193. In the aftermath of his defeat and, in order to redirect the king’s wrath, Mihr e ˙ Narseh is also accused by Elish¯ of instigating the king’s slaughter of the Armenian captives in e ˙ N¯ ap¯r. Ibid., p. 194. ısh¯ u 340 Elish¯ 1982, p. 238. e ˙

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.3: P IRUZ / M IHRANS

Rah¯m from the Parthian Mihr¯ns. Elish¯ speciﬁcally informs us that P¯ uz a a e ır¯ ˙ was a protégé of the Mihr¯nid Rah¯m. Upon the death of Yazdgird II, when the a a army of Aryans had become divided in two, according to Elish¯, the Parthian e ˙ Mihr¯nid Rah¯m was in command of one of the armies of the realm. Rah¯m a a a defeated and massacred the army of the “king’s elder son [Hormozd III] . . . and capturing the king’s son ordered him to be put to death on the spot . . . The surviving troops he brought into submission, unifying the whole army of the Aryans.” Rah¯m then “crowned his own protégé Peroz.”341 a 2.3.1 ¯ Izad Gushnasp Mihr¯n a The signiﬁcant part played by the house of Mihr¯n during P¯ uz’s reign is cora ır¯ roborated by Armenian historians. In fact, P¯ uz seems to have established ır¯ what the Armenian historians term foster relationships with the house of Mihr¯n. According to Łazar P‘arpec‘i, at the inception of P¯ uz’s reign his foster a ır¯ brother (dayeakordi, son of one’s tutor) was a certain Y˘zatvšnasp (¯ e Izad Gushnasp) “whom he loved very dearly.”342 This ¯ Izad Gushnasp was the son of Aštat (Asht¯t) from the Mihr¯n family. Father and son played a prominent part in a a the signiﬁcant revolt of the Armenians in 451–452, and, together with other, seemingly more signiﬁcant members of the Mihr¯n family, also in the course a of P¯ uz’s reign. Łazar P‘arpec‘i343 relates the role played by father and son in ır¯ the release of the Armenian nobility who had participated in the Armenian revolt344 and who, together with their priest, had been captured and, by Yazdgird II’s order, imprisoned in the vicinity of “Niwšapuh [N¯ ap¯r], the capital of ısh¯ u the land of Apar,” near the village of Rewan.345 At the inception of P¯ uz’s ır¯ reign, the king ordered his foster-brother ¯ Izad Gushnasp (Y˘zatvšnasp) “to take e the Armenian nobility, together with their families and their cavalry, to his father Aštat [i.e., Asht¯t], to the city of Hrev [i.e., Her¯t], in order to settle these a a there and use them as cavalry in Aštat’s army.”346 Łazar P‘arpec‘i’s account gives us signiﬁcant insight into this branch of the Mihr¯n family. ¯ a Izad Gushnasp was the commander of the fortress of Bolberd, northeast of the Armenian city of Karin. Bolberd, also known as Bolum, was the site of the gold mines run by the Sasanians. Its control was a matter of
1982, p. 242. Also see Nöldeke 1979, p. 222, n. 6; Tabar¯ 1999, p. 109, de Goeje, 872. ı . 1991, p. 159. 343 For a critical assessment of Łazar P‘arpec‘i, who was writing on behalf of the Armenian dynastic house of Vahan Mamikonian, and his work, History of Łazar P‘arpec‘i, see the introduction provided by Robert Thomson, in Parpeci 1991, pp. 1–31. 344 The Armenian revolt of 451–452 is said to have been precipitated by the efforts of Yazdgird II to impose Mazdaism on the Armenian population. Most likely, these measures were instigated in part by Mihr Narseh. For accounts of the revolt see Elish¯ 1982; Parpeci 1991; Chaumont 1991, e ˙ pp. 428–429. 345 Parpeci 1991, p. 133. 346 “Let them stay there,” he said, “with their cavalry, and carry out whatever task Aštat, father of Y˘zatvšnasp, may set them to do.” Parpeci 1991, p. 159. We should note the discrepancy between e the accounts of Elish¯ and Łazar P‘arpec‘i regarding the treatment of the Armenian captives in e ˙ N¯ ap¯r. See footnote 339. ısh¯ u ˙ 342 Parpeci
341 Elish¯ e

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§2.3: P IRUZ / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

great dispute between the Sasanians and the Byzantines.347 The wealth obtained from the gold mines in Armenia must have been great, for one of the charges brought against the leader of the later Armenian rebellion in 482–484, Vahan Mamikonean,348 was that he did not allow Persian ofﬁcials to attend to their duties in the mines. He intended instead to offer the gold to the Byzantine emperor or to the Huns in return for support for his rebellion. In fact, in what Łazar P‘arpec‘i implies was a ruse, Vahan came to P¯ uz’s court with ır¯ great quantities of gold and argued in the king’s presence that this voluntary offering ought to be enough to assure the king of his loyalty to the Sasanian crown.349 Łazar P‘arpec‘i informs us as well that the slanderers of this same Vahan reminded P¯ uz “of his [i.e. Vahan’s] ancestors one by one: ‘Which of them ır¯ had not disturbed the land of Aryans and had not caused tremendous damage and many deaths’.” This, without doubt, is a recollection of the hostility of this branch of the Armenian Arsacids toward the Sasanians.350 The position of the commander of this valuable fortress was, therefore, a very sensitive post, which was bequeathed to ¯ Izad Gushnasp, described by Łazar P‘arpec‘i as the conﬁdant of P¯ uz.351 The father of ¯ ır¯ Izad Gushnasp, Asht¯t, was the general of the army. a The participation of the Mihr¯ns in the military organization of P¯ uz’s realm, a ır¯ however, was not conﬁned to this. The author of the fascinating T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, Ibn Isfand¯ ar, gives us aı a ıy¯ . further information on ¯ Izad Gushnasp (rendered by the author as Yazd¯n) and a Asht¯t, whom he considers to be brothers. According to him, they were from a the mountainous region of Deylam, southwest of the Caspian Sea, but as a result of antagonism between them and a member of another noble house, “one of the grandees and prominent men of Deylam,”352 they left Deylam and settled in Tabarist¯n.353 We cannot ascertain to what particular history Ibn Isfand¯ a ı. y¯r is referring for his account of the brothers’ migration. What is interesting, a however, is that the familial relationship of this branch of Mihr¯ns with P¯ uz is a ır¯ included in the guise of a romantic narrative in the history of Ibn Isfand¯ ar.354 ıy¯ In this narrative, P¯ uz dreams of a beauty with whom he falls helplessly in love. ır¯ To ﬁnd her, he sends yet another of his relatives from the Mihr¯n family, one a Mihrf¯ uz. According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, this Mihr¯nid Mihrf¯ uz was also very ır¯ ıy¯ a ır¯ close to the king, residing with him at the royal court, which Ibn Isfand¯ ar ıy¯
1914, n. 15:18, 32, 33, 22:3, 18. Cited also by Parpeci 1991, p. 205, n. 5. Vahan Mamikonean, see Buzandaran 1989, pp. 419–420 and the sources cited therein. 349 Parpeci 1991, p. 170. 350 Parpeci 1991, p. 168. 351 Parpeci 1991, p. 166. 352 Ibn Isfand¯ ar, Muhammad b. Hasan, T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, Tehran, 1941, edited by ’Abbas Iqbal ıy¯ aı a . . . (Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941), p. 69: ıy¯
348 For
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353 Tabarist¯n is an extensive territory south/southeast of the Caspian Sea, originally known by a . the name M¯zandar¯n. We will discuss its history in more detail in Chapter 4. a a 354 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 62–71. ıy¯

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.3: P IRUZ / M IHRANS

locates in Balkh.355 The beloved turns out to be none other than the daughter of Asht¯t. The king marries this Mihr¯nid princess and at her behest builds the a a ¯ city of Amul in Tabarist¯n.356 What exact status ¯ a Izad Gushnasp, Asht¯t, and a . Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s Mihrf¯ uz had at the court of P¯ uz we cannot ascertain. There ıy¯ ır¯ ır¯ were other, more signiﬁcant members of the house of Mihr¯n, however, about a whose status and activities during the reign of P¯ uz we have more information. ır¯ Almost contemporaneous with the Armenian revolt of 482, the Sasanians experienced troubles in Georgia.357 They seem to have feared the cooperation of the two rebellious regions, and the possibility of the Georgians enlisting the aid of the Huns. While Zarmihr of the house of K¯rin358 was sent against the rea bellious forces of Vahan Mamikonean and other insurgent Armenian nobles,359 a certain Mihr¯n was sent to the Georgian front.360 As events unfolded, Miha r¯n engaged his forces also against the Armenians.361 In his wars against the a Armenians, Mihr¯n is reported to have been surrounded by a numerous army a and powerful warriors. His role, not only as one of P¯ uz’s foremost generır¯ als but as his conﬁdant, is underlined in Łazar P‘arpec‘i’s narrative.362 Mihr¯n a advised Vahan Mamikonean to submit to P¯ uz, assuring Vahan that he would ır¯ intercede on his behalf to the Sasanian king. The king, he told Vahan, “loves me and listens to my words . . . I shall beseech the king and reconcile him with you. And whatever it is right for you to be given, I shall try to see that he
355 Ibn

Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 66: ıy¯
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356 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 72. The Mihr¯ns are the third Parthian dynastic family who are given ıy¯ a ¯ credit for the construction of the city of Amul in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s account. This, doubtless, is a ıy¯ reﬂection of the different Parthian traditions on urban construction in Tabarist¯n circulating in the a . region. For the etymology of the city’s name, see Marquart 1931, p. 110. 357 For the intimate connection of Iran to Georgia, analogous in cultural terms to that which existed between Iran and Armenia, see Lang 1983. 358 As we shall see shortly, another important K¯rinid leader is Sukhr¯. Our sources sometimes a a confuse Zarmihr with Sukhr¯. Moreover, toward the end of Qub¯d’s reign, a son of Sukhr¯ with a a a the name Zarmihr also appears. It is rather unlikely that this is the same Zarmihr mentioned here. Christensen suggested that Sukhr¯ seems to have been the family name of the dynastic family of a the K¯rins to which Zarmihr belonged. Christensen 1944, p. 294, n. 5. Equally plausible is that a Zarmihr was the name of both Sukhr¯’s father and son. a 359 The commander-in-chief of the operations in Armenia during this violent phase of the Armenian–Sasanian relationship was Zarmihr Hazarwuxt (haz¯rbed), who prior to the outbreak a of the revolt was commander-in-chief of the forces ﬁghting the rebellion of the Georgian king Vaxt‘ang (Vakhtang I Gorgasali, 452–502), in Albania (Arr¯n). Under his command Zarmihr (see a previous note) had contingents of Armenians. Parpeci 1991, pp. 166, 184. For a fascinating article on Caucasia and its topography, and the role of the Parthians, speciﬁcally the Mihr¯ns, in Arr¯n, a a see Minorsky, V., ‘Caucasia IV’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 15, (1953), pp. 504–529 (Minorsky 1953). An assessment of the connection of this history to the rebellion of B¯a bak Khurramd¯ in Azarb¯yj¯n in the early ninth century will be made in the author’s forthcoming ın a a work. 360 Parpeci 1991, pp. 172–189. 361 Parpeci 1991, pp. 192–193. 362 Parpeci 1991, p. 193.

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§2.3: P IRUZ / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

gives.”363 It is to Mihr¯n that Vahan Mamikonean likewise argued his case for a his loyal behavior toward the Sasanian kings and the unfair recompense that he and Armenia had received through the Sasanians’ destructive policies in the region.364 Mihr¯n urged the insurgent rebels to convert and “take refuge in ﬁre a and worship the sun.” In the midst of his negotiations with the Armenians, Mihr¯n was suddenly summoned back to the court by P¯ uz.365 a ır¯ 2.3.2 Sh¯p¯ r Mihr¯n a u a

During the next campaign season in the spring of 484, it was the turn of the K¯rinid Zarmihr to be sent to Armenia with a large force. After a while, howa ever, Zarmihr was also recalled by P¯ uz, who informed him of his attack on ır¯ the Hephthalites.366 The king then advised Zarmihr ﬁrst to go to Georgia and either to kill or expel the Georgian king. At this point in his narrative Łazar P‘arpec‘i introduces a certain ˘ Sapuh (Sh¯p¯r) of the house of Mihr¯n. P¯ uz had a u a ır¯ advised Zarmihr to install this Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n as the marzpan of Georgia with a u a a detachment of troops. Whatever the case, Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n takes to Bolberd a u a some of the Armenians earlier captured by Zarmihr, speciﬁcally the wives of the Kamsarakan noble house, and entrusts them to the care of ¯ Izad Gushnasp, the Mihr¯nid commander of the fortress in control of the gold mines.367 Sh¯a a p¯r Mihr¯n seems to have been from the same branch of the Mihr¯ns as ¯ u a a Izad Gushnasp, for as the latter is described as a foster brother of P¯ uz, the former ır¯ also partook in the dayeak system of foster family. He too is described as having known the devotion of the Kamsarakan family to Christianity because he had been raised among the Armenians.368 Like ¯ Izad Gushnasp, Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n had a u a the power of intercession with the Sasanian king. He advised the Kamsarakan family: “fear not, and do not abandon the service of the king of kings . . . [for] through my mediation, I shall have the king of kings forgive your guilt. Whatever is right I shall have granted to you . . . And because I love you like sons, I am advising you like children as to the way you can live and survive.” That the Mihr¯ns at this point no longer enjoyed the same power as the K¯rins is borne a a
363 It is signiﬁcant, as we will discuss on page 392ff below, that the term used by Łazar P‘arpec‘i for mediation is mij ˇnord. Parpeci 1991, p. 193 and n. 1. 364 Parpeci 1991, pp. 193–196. 365 Parpeci 1991, p. 199 and 196. 366 Parpeci 1991, p. 202. The identity of the Hephthalites/White Huns (or Hay¯tila), a steppe a. people from Mongolia, is unknown. The Armenian sources call them, anachronistically, “Kush¯ns or Huns who were Kush¯ns.” They were apparently just beginning to arrive in Transoxiana, a a Bactria, and the northern fringes of Khur¯s¯n at this time. They are mentioned in the Chinese aa sources as having their original home in Central Asia. It was in the ﬁfth century that they moved to Bactria. Once there, they adopted the local written language, Bactrian, which was written in modiﬁed Greek. For the Hephthalites, see Bivar, A.D.H., ‘Hay¯tila’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, a. C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007b (Bivar 2007b); Frye, Frye 1983, p. 146. 367 Parpeci 1991, p. 205. See §2.3.1. 368 See Parpeci 1991, p. 206, and n. 1, where Thomson remarks that this is a reference to the system of san and dayeak.

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS

out by the fact that they were put under the command of the K¯rinid Zarmihr a in Armenia. In the midst of his wars against the Armenians, Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n a u a received a grievous and distressing letter from the “Persian nobles and . . . other relatives and friends who had escaped the crushing defeat by the Hephthalites,” informing him of the death of P¯ uz in battle.369 It is noteworthy that according ır¯ to Łazar P‘arpec‘i, Sh¯p¯r had other relatives who had participated in P¯ uz’s a u ır¯ campaigns against the Hephthalites. It is also signiﬁcant that in line with the traditions contained in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, the messenger who brought the news a a of the disaster to Sh¯p¯r blamed the whole affair on the folly of P¯ uz.370 a u ır¯ Now it is almost certain that in the ﬁgure of Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n we are actually a u a dealing with the son of the great Mihr¯n, the general who was sent against the a Armenian rebel Vahan Mamikonean in 481–482. This was, in other words, yet another father and son couple from the house of Mihr¯n with whom P¯ a ır¯z was on intimate terms, as he was with ¯ u Izad Gushnasp and Asht¯t from the a same family. Sh¯p¯r and his father, however, are also closely connected with a u P¯ uz’s administration and described by the Armenian sources as the king’s ır¯ closest conﬁdants. They had the authority not only to cajole the king but, together with the K¯rins, to function as king-makers by bringing Bil¯sh (484– a a 488) to power on P¯ uz’s death. It is quite possible that the elder Mihr¯n was ır¯ a recalled by P¯ uz to participate in the Hephthalite campaign, leaving the son to ır¯ deal with the Armenian situation alone. This would explain Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n’s a u a own recall after the news of P¯ uz’s disastrous defeat, the murder of the king, ır¯ and the loss of the greater part of his army. It was at this point, then, that Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n hastened to the capital to take part in the selection of the new a u a king, Bil¯sh, an appointment in which the Mihr¯ns must have followed the lead a a of the K¯rinid Sukhr¯, to be discussed below. At any rate one thing is clear: a a the prominent role of the Mihr¯ns both in the Armenian campaign and at the a court of P¯ uz, and his successor, Bil¯sh, is amply demonstrated through the ır¯ a narratives of Łazar P‘arpec‘i of the events of 482–484.

2.4

Bil¯sh and Qub¯d / the K¯rins a a a
2.4.1 Bil¯sh a

Bil¯sh’s accession (484–488), however, marks the start of an all-out dynastic a rivalry between the Mihr¯n and the K¯rin families.371 Just as the career of the a a

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1991, p. 214. cause was no one else save the king.” Parpeci 1991, p. 214. The theme of the covenant that P¯ uz had made with the Hephthalite king and then broken, as well as the notion of an unjust ır¯ war, also looms large in Łazar P‘arpec‘i’s narrative. Ibid., pp. 214–215. For the signiﬁcance of this, see Chapter 5, especially page 380ff. 371 After P¯ uz’s death yet another civil war engulfed Iran. According to Tabar¯ when Bil¯sh ır¯ ı, a . a assumed the throne, he had to contend for power with one of his nephews, Qub¯d, who was twice forced to ﬂee to the east. But sources based on Ibn Muqaffa claim that Qub¯d ﬂed only once, a a a from his brother J¯m¯sp—whose saga we will follow in §4.3.1—when he was forced to stay with the Hephthalites for two years as a hostage. Bil¯sh nonetheless was forced to ﬁght his other brother a
370 “The

369 Parpeci

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§2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

S¯rens and the Mihr¯ns enmeshed the Sasanian monarchs during the ﬁrst half u a of the ﬁfth century, the tremendous power of another Parthian dynastic family, the K¯rins, overshadowed the very rule of Sasanian monarchs for more than a half a century subsequent to this.372 The career of Sukhr¯ of the K¯rin therefore a a takes the center stage during the latter part of the reign of P¯ uz (459–484), the ır¯ entire reign of Bil¯sh (484–488), and the ﬁrst part of the reign of Qub¯d (488– a a 531). In fact, from the end of P¯ uz’s reign to the Mazdakite uprising,373 the ır¯ fortunes of the Sasanian kings can best be understood through the saga of the Parthian house of the K¯rin. a 2.4.2 Sukhr¯ K¯rin a a

In Tabar¯ narrative,374 transmitted through Ibn Muqaffa , Sukhr¯ appears as ı’s a . the avenger of P¯ uz’s second, humiliating, and foolhardy defeat at the hands ır¯ of his enemies in the east,375 a defeat the “like[s] of which . . . [the Persian army] had never before experienced,” when P¯ uz’s “womenfolk, his wealth, ır¯ and his administrative bureaus” had fallen into enemy hands. Sukhr¯ is here a identiﬁed as coming from the district of Ardash¯ Khurrah.376 In a heroic feat, ır Sukhr¯ defeated the enemy, rescued the captives, and secured all the wealth a that had fallen into enemy hands. According to Tabar¯ when Sukhr¯ returned ı, a . victorious to Iran, the Persians “received him with great honor, extolled his feats, and raised him to a lofty status such as none but kings were able to attain after
ır) ı Zarih (or Zar¯ for the throne. Nöldeke 1879, p. 133, n. 6, Nöldeke 1979, p. 236, n. 61. Tabar¯ . 1999, p. 126, n. 324. 372 As the career of Surena of the house of S¯ ren found its way into the national historical tradition u in the saga of the mythical hero Rustam, so too the K¯rins are almost certain to have left their mark a on the national historiography. Nöldeke compares the part played by Sukhr¯ in avenging P¯ uz’s a ır¯ humiliating defeat to that of K¯rin in the legendary sections of the national history. Nöldeke, a Theodore, ‘Das iranische Nationalepos’, Grundriss der iranischen Philologie II, (1896), pp. 130–211 (Nöldeke 1896), p. 9; Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 120–121, and n. 308, de Goeje, 880. ı . 373 For a discussion of the controversy surrounding the chronology of the Mazdakite uprising, see §2.4.5 below. 374 Tabar¯ gives three narratives on the rule of P¯ uz. The ﬁrst one is apparently taken from Ibn ı ır¯ . Hish¯m. The second, much longer and more detailed, was, according to Nöldeke, transmitted a through Ibn Muqaffa . And a third, given without attribution, is also found in Ferdows¯ Sh¯hn¯ı’s a a ma. Nöldeke 1879, p. 119, n. 1, p. 121, n. 1, and p. 128, n. 3, Nöldeke 1979, pp. 200–201, p. 227, n. 19, p. 229, n. 21, p. 233, n. 43. Cited also in Tabar¯ 1999, p. 111, n. 287. ı . 375 Bosworth notes that P¯ uz actually undertook three wars against the peoples of the east. “At ır¯ the time of his ﬁrst war with the powers of the eastern lands, F¯ uz’s enemies there were probably ır¯ still the Kidarites, who controlled Balkh, as they were the Persian ruler’s foes in his second war of 467 . . . It would thus have been natural for F¯ uz to have sought aid from the Kidarites’ enemies, ır¯ soon to replace them as the dominant power in Transoxiana and Bactria, the Hephthalites, and equally natural that he should fall out with his erstwhile allies once the formidable power of the Hephthalites was ﬁrmly established just across his eastern frontiers.” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 110, n. 284, ı . de Goeje, 873. For the wars of P¯ uz against the Hephthalites in the east and the Caucasus also see ır¯ Joshua the Stylite 2000, pp. 10–21. 376 In Tabar¯ ﬁrst narrative, Sukhr¯ appeared as the avenger of the death of P¯ uz and is identiﬁed ı’s a ır¯ . as a man from F¯rs. a

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS

him.”377 Here, Tabar¯ gives the exalted genealogy of the K¯rins, who traced ı a . their descent, as it had become fashionable, even among the Sasanians, from P¯ uz’s reign onward,378 to the Kay¯nid king Man¯chihr.379 ır¯ a u According to Ferdows¯ before leaving for his last war in the east P¯ uz left ı, ır¯ his brother Bil¯sh, presumably as vice-regent, in the capital. He installed Sua khr¯, whose name is rendered ﬁrst as Surkh¯b and later as S¯fr¯y in Ferdows¯ a a u a ı, as minister to Bil¯sh. Upon hearing of P¯ uz’s defeat, Sukhr¯ set out to avenge a ır¯ a the king. He defeated Khushnav¯z, the Hephthalite king, negotiated a truce, a and returned to Iran in the company of Qub¯d,380 who had been taken captive a by Khushnav¯z.381 a Łazar P‘arpec‘i emphasized the dominant role in Bil¯sh’s accession played a by the K¯rins, although he calls their main leader Zarmihr rather than Sua khr¯.382 After detailing the mindless follies of P¯ uz, the K¯rinid Zarmihr ina ır¯ a structed the incumbent king Bil¯sh: “[You are] to reduce by soft words and a friendship the nations who have rebelled; to acknowledge each person among the Aryans and non-Aryans according to his individual worth, to recognize and distinguish the excellent and the worthless, to consult with the wise; to love well-wishers, but to scorn and destroy the envious and slanderous.”383 Even Christensen admits that the K¯rinid Zarmihr (Sukhr¯?) was the real ruler of a a Iran during Bil¯sh’s short reign.384 In Ferdows¯ narrative, after avenging the a ı’s death of P¯ uz and returning to the capital in the company of Qub¯d, the K¯ır¯ a a rinid Sukhr¯ became the true ruler of the Sasanian realm. Sukhr¯ gets the lion’s a a share of Ferdows¯ attention in this account. He was the hero responsible for ı’s restoring kingship. All the other grandees of the empire were at his command, all the affairs of the country under his control.385
p. 117, de Goeje, 877. Emphasis mine. page 385. 379 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 117, de Goeje, 878. In a third narrative—this version is also very much in ı . ıy¯ . ı a agreement with that given by Ibn Isfand¯ ar—Tabar¯ maintains that Sukhr¯ was in fact put as deputy of the king over the cities of Ctesiphon and Bahuras¯ (Veh Ardash¯ ır ır)—the two royal residences. In this narrative, Sukhr¯ is made the governor of S¯ an and the two cities. Ibid., p. 118. Other sources a ıst¯ claim Sukhr¯ to be the governor (marzb¯n) of S¯ an and Z¯bulist¯n. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 582, Tha ¯a a ıst¯ a a a ı a ı u ınawar¯ 1960, p. 60, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 63. In the ı lib¯ 1989, p. 374. His name is given as Sh¯khar in D¯ Iranian national history, the Kay¯nid king Man¯chihr avenges the murder of Fereyd¯n’s son, Iraj, a u u by his brothers. During his reign the incessant feud between Iran and T¯r¯n begins, to which the ua S¯ ani cycle of the Iranian national history is added. For the primacy of Man¯chihr, see page 375ff ıst¯ u in Chapter 5. 380 According to Christensen (via Nöldeke and Tabar¯ it is a daughter of P¯ uz, the future motherı) ır¯ . in-law of Qub¯d, who is brought back, not Qub¯d himself; and even that he thinks is ﬁction. a a Christensen 1944, p. 296. 381 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2286–2287, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 26–27. ı ı 382 See footnote 358. 383 Parpeci 1991, p. 218. 384 Christensen 1944, p. 295. 385 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2286–2287, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 27–28: ı ı
378 See 377 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

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§2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS 2.4.3 Qub¯d a C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

Finally Sukhr¯ set out to depose Bil¯sh and crown Qub¯d (488–531) king. He a a a reproached Bil¯sh that he did not know the way of kingship, making a mockery a of it, and that Qub¯d was more ﬁt for this.386 So after four years of Bil¯sh’s rule, a a Sukhr¯ deposed him from the throne and installed Qub¯d in his stead. a a The K¯rin/Mihr¯n rivalry reached its heights during Qub¯d’s reign. It was a a a one of the most important instigators of Qub¯d’s Mazdakite phase, and it most a certainly precipitated Qub¯d’s and Khusrow I’s (531–579) reforms,387 the most a important dimension of which was concentrating the power of the Sasanians in the monarch’s hand and undermining the centrifugal tendencies of the dynastic houses of the empire. What, then, was the nature of this rivalry? With a juvenile king at the throne, according to the chroniclers, Sukhr¯ ruled the country. a It was as if Qub¯d was not king, for Sukhr¯ controlled all the affairs of the a a empire. None had access to the king except Sukhr¯, and even the clergy were a not under Qub¯d’s authority.388 Tabar¯ narrative corroborates that of Fera ı’s . dows¯ He portrays Sukhr¯’s power in an account detailing Qub¯d’s supposed ı. a a ﬂight to the Kh¯q¯n of the Turks during Bil¯sh’s reign.389 When Qub¯d ﬁnally a a a a came back to Mad¯ in (Ctesiphon), “he sought out S¯khr¯ . . . [and] delegated a u a to him all his executive powers.”390 Sukhr¯ “was in charge of government of a the kingdom and the management of affairs . . . [T]he people came to S¯khr¯ u a and undertook all their dealings with him, treating Qub¯d as a person of no ima portance and regarding his commands with contempt.”391 Ferdows¯ provides ı
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386 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

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D¯ ınawar¯ conﬁrms that Qub¯d was put on the throne by Sukhr¯. D¯ ı a a ınawar¯ 1960, pp. 59–60, ı D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 64. ı 387 See §2.5.1 below. 388 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 30–31, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2289: ı ı
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389 According to Bosworth the historicity of this ﬂight is difﬁcult to accept, “Tabar¯ having conı . fused, probably, Qub¯d’s one or two stays with the Hephthalites.” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 128, n. 330. a ı . 390 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 130, de Goeje, 884–885. ı . 391 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 131, de Goeje, 885. ı .

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS

even more details on the extent of Sukhr¯’s power. After ﬁve years in which a Sukhr¯ was for all practical purposes ruling, his power went beyond what the a king could tolerate, and Qub¯d began to assert his control.392 One of his ﬁrst a acts was to send Sukhr¯ into exile, away from Ctesiphon, to his native Sh¯ az in a ır¯ southwestern Iran. Once back in his native land, according to Ferdows¯ Sukhr¯ ı, a controlled all except the kingly crown. He boasted of putting the king on the throne. It was to him that various regions and the other members of the elite paid their tribute. Rumor had it that the king ruled only in name, for neither the treasury nor the army were under his control. No one heeded his orders. Those privy to Qub¯d enquired into the reasons behind his complacency. In a search of a remedy, Qub¯d decided against sending an army to attack Sukhr¯, a a lest he rebel. In any case, Qub¯d had no army to speak of, as the military was a under Sukhr¯’s control.393 a Two points stand out in Ferdows¯ depiction of Sukhr¯’s power. One is the ı’s a wealth at the disposal of the chief of the K¯rins. Great wealth is in fact the one a common denominator of all the Pahlav dynasts covered in this study. Ferdows¯ ı highlights a number of times how the Parthian K¯rinid Sukhr¯—like the S¯ren a a u in the ﬁrst half of the ﬁfth century—was in control of the treasury of the realm to which all the tributes of the various provinces came. All regions under the presumed authority of the Sasanian king Qub¯d, as well as all the elite of his a realm, paid their taxes (b¯j) to Sukhr¯. In fact Sukhr¯ actively solicited these.394 a a a
392 According to Ferdows¯ Qub¯d was sixteen years old when Sukhr¯ promoted him as the Sasaı, a a nian king; see footnote 388. 393 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 30-31, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2290–2291: ı ı
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Or again, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 31, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2290: ı ı
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Or again when Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ on whom see §2.4.4 below, advises Qub¯d to write a letter to Sukhr¯ a u a ı, a a maintaining among other things, that from kingship all that has remained at his disposal is the title and an empty treasury. Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 33, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2291: ı ı
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§2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

A second characteristic of the Pahlav dynasts is their control of independent sources of manpower. The Sasanians came to rely on them militarily. Ferdows¯ makes this abundantly clear in his narrative, never more so than when he ı describes Qub¯d’s lack of manpower with which to confront Sukhr¯. In fact, a a Qub¯d shirked the possibility of sending troops against Sukhr¯, had he been a a able to, for this would have made Sukhr¯ an even more formidable enemy and a led him to rebellion.395 The manpower at the disposal of the Parthian dynastic families is a theme reiterated again and again in the chronicles. Detailing the crises incapacitating the monarchy in the wake of the rebellions of Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ and Vist¯hm in the late sixth, early seventh centuries below,396 we still u ın a observe this continued reliance of the Sasanians on the military force provided by the Parthian dynasts even after Khusrow I’s ostensible military reforms and the creation of a standing army. 2.4.4 Sh¯p¯ r R¯z¯ Mihr¯n a u a ı a

It is indicative of the nature of the power of the dynastic families during this period that in order to rescue his kingship from the stranglehold of the K¯rins, a Qub¯d was forced to turn to another Parthian dynastic family, the Mihr¯ns. a a When Qub¯d complained that he did not have an army, or a commander in a chief (razmkh¯h), for that matter, with which to confront Sukhr¯, he was rea a minded that he did still possess loyal subjects who were powerful. Our sources are unanimous in calling the Mihr¯nid protagonist at whose hands and power a Sukhr¯ and the K¯rins lost their hegemony as one Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ that is, Sh¯p¯r a a a u a ı, a u of Rayy, a clear reference to the Mihr¯nid power base in Tabarist¯n, of which a a . Rayy was the chief city. Signiﬁcantly, D¯ ınawar¯ clearly identiﬁes him as Sh¯p¯r ı a u R¯z¯ “one of the sons of the great Mihr¯n, and his [i.e., Qub¯d’s] governor over a ı, a a Khutr¯niya and Babylonia.”397 Tabar¯ identiﬁes him as the supreme commanı . a . der of the land (isbahbadh al-bil¯d) and remarks, as does Ferdows¯ in his long a ı . narrative, that Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ was asked to come to the king with the troops under a u a ı his command.398 Ferdows¯ leaves us no doubt that in his recall of Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ ı a u a ı,
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395 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 65, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 69; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 31–32, Ferdows¯ ı ı ı 1935, pp. 2290–2291:
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§2.6.3 and §2.7.1 respectively. and B¯bil were districts in southern Iraq, irrigated by the Sur¯ canal. Donner 1981, a . .¯ a p. 163; D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 65, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 69. ı 398 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 130–131, de Goeje, 885. ı .
397 Khutr¯niya a

396 See

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS

Qub¯d was relying on one of the staunchest enemies of Sukhr¯.399 It was he a a who could destroy the K¯rinid Sukhr¯. The aftermath of Qub¯d’s beckoning a a a of Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ was a war that took place not between Qub¯d and Sukhr¯, but a u a ı a a between the agnates of two dynastic families: the Mihr¯nid Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ and the a a u a ı K¯rinid Sukhr¯. Together with his army, Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ collected that of other a a a u a ı discontented nobles and set out against Sukhr¯ to Sh¯ az. Sukhr¯ was defeated, a ır¯ a captured, and brought back to Ctesiphon together with his treasury. Even in captivity in Ctesiphon, however, he was deemed to be too powerful. And so Sukhr¯ was put to death.400 a The rivalry of the houses of K¯rin and Mihr¯n, and the ephemeral positions a a of one or the other vis-à-vis the monarchy is said to have become proverbial in their contemporary society. The expression that “Sukhr¯’s wind has died away, a and a wind belonging to Mihr¯n has now started to blow,” circulated among a the people.401 Still, as we shall see, it was with the aid of Zarmihr, the son of Sukhr¯, that Qub¯d regained his throne after being deposed by the nobility and a a the clergy on account of his adoption of the Mazdakite creed.402 The rivalry between the Parthian Mihr¯ns and the K¯rins during this pea a riod also highlights a crucial factor in the dynamic between the monarchy and the nobility that is symptomatic of the sociopolitical history examined here: in spite of their corporate interests, the various Parthian dynastic families did not always function in a unitary fashion. The maneuverability of the monarchy, and the ability of the Sasanians to sustain themselves in the face of Parthians’ hold on the monarchy was, therefore, to a great degree contingent on the divisions and rivalries among the Pahlav dynasts. Division within one and the same family—or even patricide and fratricide, a common enough means of succession at the disposal of the Sasanian monarchy—were certainly nothing unprecedented, as the careers of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 403 and his brother Gorduyih,404 and a u ın that of Sukhr¯ and his son Zarmihr, amply demonstrate. a

399 “Nowhere in the world was there a greater enemy of Sukhr¯ than he.” Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, a ı p. 32, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2291: ı
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400 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. VIII, p. 35, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2293: ı
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401 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

402 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, ı

.

p. 132, de Goeje, 885. p. 65, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 69. For a discussion of the Mazdakite rebellion, see ı

§2.4.5 and §5.2.7. 403 For the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ see §2.6.3 below. a u ın, 404 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 308, de Goeje, 997. ı .

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§2.4: B ILASH –Q UBAD / K ARINS 2.4.5 C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

Mazdakite uprising

Much has been said about the hold of the so-called nobility over Qub¯d in his a initial stages of his kingship, and the fact that this situation precipitated his ultimate resort to the Mazdakite creed in order to stamp out their power.405 The history of the Sasanians at this crucial juncture will lack any substance, however, if we fail to identify the Parthian dynasts involved and ignore their far reaching rivalries. The conventional narrative of this episode of Sasanian history runs something like this: So strong was the hold of the nobility over the monarchy that at some point during his long career, presumably during his second term in ofﬁce, Qub¯d rebelled against them. A felicitous opportunity a presented itself to the king in the form of the Mazdakite doctrine, in whose adherents Qub¯d is said to have found the perfect constituency with which to a combat the powers of the nobility.406 And so, presumably, during his reign and with his tacit support, was unleashed one of the most remarkable upheavals in Sasanian history: the Mazdakite uprising. The effects of this rebellion on the nobility are thought to have been nothing short of devastating. The ﬁnancial and social infrastructures that sustained the nobility are thought to have been attacked systematically by a mass popular movement. Whole families among the nobility are presumed to have lost their power in an apparently extended revolutionary phase, although the chronology again is utterly confusing. As a result of the Mazdakite predilection for ib¯ha ’l-nis¯ (communal sharing of women), a a by the time Khusrow I took power, multitudes of children are said to have been conceived out of wedlock by noble women! It has even been argued that the Mazdakite uprising was orchestrated from above in order to achieve Qub¯d’s a aim after his epiphany that the noble houses had become overbearing.407 It was presumably also to undermine the dependency of the monarchy on the manpower of the nobility that Qub¯d began a cadastral survey as a preliminary step a toward a taxation reform. As his son’s later reforms, this was meant to bring enough resources to the central treasury to establish a standing army, a new nobility that would ensure the strength of the Sasanian monarch in the face of centrifugal powers within his realm. In short, as Zeev Rubin observes, while there has been much controversy about the nature and chronology of the Mazdakite uprising, there has been little disagreement about its outcome: “The old Iranian aristocracy was its main victim, and once its power was swept away the road to change was opened.”408

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405 We will discuss the popular and possibly communist nature of the Mazdakite rebellion below in §5.2.7. 406 See §5.2.7. 407 Gaube, H., ‘Mazdak: Historical Reality or Invention?’, Studia Iranica 11, (1982), pp. 111–122 (Gaube 1982). Also see Shaki, Mansour, ‘The Cosmogonical and Cosmological Teachings of Mazdak’, in Papers in Honour of Professor Mary Boyce, vol. 24 of Acta Iranica, pp. 527–543, Leiden, 1985 (Shaki 1985). 408 Rubin 1995, p. 229.

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES

An incapacitated nobility opened the way, therefore, it has been argued, for the unprecedented reforms of Qub¯d’s son and successor, Khusrow I. Rua bin again recapitulates the near consensus of the ﬁeld: “Something drastic must have happened to enable a king to override the powerful nobility of the country which so far [had] . . . successfully managed to block any initiative for change. The explanation is supplied by the Mazdakite revolt under Khusrow I’s father and predecessor Kav¯d I.”409 And so enters one of the most paradigmatic ﬁgures a in Sasanian history, Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, of Immortal Soul, whose auspiırv¯ cious reign epitomizes what the Sasanians had always aspired to be and nearly achieved, a centralized, powerful oriental polity. What, however, was the fate of the Mihr¯ns and other great feudal families in the wake of the Mazdakite a uprising? However one answers the question of periodization, and whatever the nature of Khusrow I’s ﬁscal and military reforms, there is no doubt about this, as we shall see: the pattern of a confederacy between the Sasanian monarchy and the Parthian dynastic families did not change. Neither did the history of the ebb and ﬂow of the fortunes of the dynasts vis-à-vis each other and the monarchy. Players on the scene might have changed, but the paradigm of Sasanian history remained unscathed. For one of the astounding facts of the post-Mazdakite and post-reform narrative of Sasanian history is that with the K¯rins conveniently a out of the way, thanks to the resources and manpower of the Mihr¯ns, the stage a was now set for the ascendancy, once more, of the Mihr¯n during Khusrow I’s a rule. Another great feudal family, however, the Ispahbudh¯n, likewise assumed a center stage in subsequent Sasanian history.

2.5

Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an / the Mihr¯ns, the ırv¯ a Ispahbudh¯n, and the K¯rins a a
2.5.1 Khusrow I’s reforms

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1995, p. 229. in fact devotes almost one sixth of his œuvre to an assessment of Khusrow I’s reign. Christensen 1944. 411 For the ofﬁce of p¯yg¯sp¯n (p¯dh¯sp¯n, protector of the land), see, for instance, Khurshudian a o a a u a 1998, §1.2.
410 He

409 Rubin

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The kernel of the image of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an is that of a powerful king ırv¯ who, through his reforms, inaugurated one of the most splendid phases of Sasanian history, restoring, in the tradition of Ardash¯ I, Sh¯p¯r I, and Sh¯p¯r II, ır a u a u the normative dimensions of Sasanian kingship: a powerful centralized monarchy capable of mustering the empire’s resources to stabilize the realm internally while solidifying its external boundaries and even engaging in expansionist policies. As mentioned previously, the chief architect of this image is doubtless Arthur Christensen,410 who, in his seminal work draws its contours, systematically and persistently. Commencing his chapter on Khusrow I with the letter, preserved in Tabar¯ which the king is said to have written to his p¯dh¯sp¯n411 ı, a u a .

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§2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

of the north,412 Christensen observes that we have in the fragments of the letter a “king who has clearly reemerged as the center of all authority. He rules in an absolute manner over the nobility as well as the commoners, even the clergy are under his sway.”413 The glory of the Sasanian kings reached its apogee during his reign and Iran entered one of the most brilliant phases of its history. In his systematic construction activity, among which was the building of the T¯.a q-i Kisr¯, the most illustrious example of the Sasanian monarchy’s celebration a of itself, Ctesiphon witnessed its greatest expansion during his reign. Together with his rigorous and systematic patronage of the arts and sciences, Khusrow I inaugurated “one of the most brilliant epochs of Sasanian history,”414 achieving a grandeur surpassing even “the periods of the great Sh¯hp¯rs.”415 Minor resera u vations notwithstanding, Khusrow I remains the epitome of Sasanian kingly glory. There is indeed much to commend in Christensen’s portrayal of Khusrow I and his times, an image the deconstruction of the exaggerated aspects of which has begun elsewhere and is not within the purview of the present study.416 Even so, the image has in the meantime acquired paradigmatic dimensions. It is not a question of whether or not the Sasanians during this period, or indeed throughout their history, were one of the two major powers on the international scene of late antiquity, a role that the Byzantines, their only other peer in late antiquity, recognized “after a delay for mental adjustment.”417 Likewise, there is no denying the cultural achievements of the Sasanians throughout their history. A bare knowledge of antiquity bears witness to this. It is not even a matter of questioning the notion that “the apparatus of government, administrative, ﬁscal, and military, both at the center and in the province, reached a relatively advanced stage of development early in the Sasanian era of Iranian history,”418 although this latter notion is itself based more on deductions than on any detailed investigation of a wealth of information contained in the literary or extant primary sources that at times defy any attempt at chronological reconstruction. Here a question of methodology comes in, which we will discuss shortly. Sufﬁce it to underline here that one of the foremost authorities investigating the administrative geography of the Sasanian history warns against the disequilibrium of the information contained even in the primary sources at our disposal—inscriptions, coinage and seals—for reconstructing a detailed

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1944, p. 363. 1944, p. 364. Emphasis mine. 414 Christensen 1944, pp. 363–442. 415 Christensen 1944, p. 438. 416 See most importantly Rubin 1995, and Rubin, Zeev, ‘The Financial Affairs of the Sasanian Empire under Khusrow II Parvez’, 2006, MESA talk (Rubin 2006). I would like to thank professor Zeev Rubin for providing me with a draft version of his fascinating article. 417 Howard-Johnston, James, ‘The Two Great Powers in Late Antiquity: A Comparison’, in Averil Cameron and Lawrence I. Conrad (eds.), The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, III: States, Resources and Armies, pp. 157–227, 1995 (Howard-Johnston 1995), p. 165. 418 Howard-Johnston 1995, p. 169.
413 Christensen

412 Christensen

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES

administrative geography of the span of Sasanian history. For even from the purely chronological point of view, our current data belong to two distinct periods of Sasanian history. On the one hand, there are the monumental inscriptions belonging to the third century, and on the other, the administrative seals that belong to the sixth and seventh centuries.419 The question, rather, is the following: How does one reconcile the ostensible success of Khusrow I’s centralizing reforms with the understanding that, as we shall see, it was ultimately centrifugal forces that brought about the demise of the Sasanian dynasty? This is not the place to engage in a detailed study of Khusrow I’s reforms. A recent study by Zeev Rubin has done this admirably.420 In brief, Khusrow I’s reform is said to have attempted a modernization of the Sasanian ﬁscal system, involving, above all, a rationalization of the empire’s taxation system in order to ensure a stable source of income for the central treasury.421 Having established a ﬁnancially sound ﬁscal system under the strict supervision of the central administration, Khusrow I is said to have used his newly acquired resource for the ultimate purpose that the ﬁscal restructuring had been conceived to begin with: the creation of a standing army that would replace the problematic and unreliable “army of retainers, brought to the ﬁeld by powerful feudal lords over whom the king had little effective control.”422 This too is thought to have been achieved. It is here that the social crisis in the wake of the Mazdakite uprising is said to have come in handy. With the great noble families presumably out of the way as a result of the Mazdakite uprising, the king reportedly set out to turn his new military recruits into a new nobility. As Rubin remarks, there is a crack here in the consensus of the ﬁeld: while some have suggested that “they were recruited from among the gentry of the dehk¯ns, . . . the more common view is that they belonged to a a higher social rank.”423 The scholarly consensus of Khusrow I’s rule then builds upon the image constructed by Christensen of a powerful centralizing monarch who, through a keen sense of expediency and farsighted measures, managed to achieve what had hitherto remained unrealizable: a sound ﬁscal system as well as a standing army. As Rubin’s fascinating study points out, however, there are a number of problems with this scenario. Before proceeding with Rubin’s analysis, however, we should highlight a number of points about the forces that might have instigated Khusrow I’s reforms. 2.5.2 Interlude: Letter of Tansar

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In order to do so we may start with a document authored during the Sasanian period, the Letter of Tansar. The greater part of the Letter of Tansar presumes to be the response of Tansar (or Tosar), the chief herbad of Ardash¯ I, to the ır
419 For

this and other problematics inherent in our primary sources, see Gyselen 2002, p. 180. 1995. 421 Christensen 1944, p. 367. 422 Rubin 1995, p. 228. 423 Rubin 1995, p. 228, and the references given in n. 5.
420 Rubin

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§2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

charges that the ruler of Tabarist¯n, Gushn¯sp, is supposed to have made against a a . the ﬁrst Sasanian king, Ardash¯ I, when the herbad had asked Gushn¯sp to ır a submit to Ardash¯ I. Now the precise date of the Letter of Tansar has been the ır subject of debate. While the letter presents itself as being written during the reign of Ardash¯ I at the inception of Sasanian rule, and while there is some ır agreement that parts of the Letter of Tansar might in fact pertain to this period, the evidence for a sixth-century authorship is too overwhelming to be simply brushed aside as instances of interpolations.424 One of the primary criteria for attributing a sixth-century date to the letter, in fact, is its informational content: it refers to the post-reform period of Khusrow I’s administration.425 The letter appears to transpose the events that transpired during Khusrow I’s reign onto the conditions that are presumed to have existed during the reign of Ardash¯ I. ır To begin with, there can be no doubt that the Letter of Tansar contains a veiled description of the Mazdakite rebellion. Among the ﬁrst few charges against Ardash¯ I, the Letter articulates Gushn¯sp’s accusation that “the King ır a of Kings demands of men earnings and work (mak¯sib o m-r-d-h).”426 Tansar a then proceeds to give a classic articulation of the desirability of maintaining the four estates of the kingdom, enumerating these as the clergy, military, scribes, and artisans and tillers of land at the head of which stands the king, arguing that it “is through these four estates that humanity will prosper as long as it endures,” and reminding Gushn¯sp that assuredly there ought not be any “passa ing from one to another” estate except under exceptional circumstances.427 He then describes for Gushn¯sp the ways in which this four-fold division of society a had been threatened with destruction—the point of reference always being presumably the Arsacid period—when “men fell upon evil days” and “ﬁxed their desires upon what was not justly theirs.” When this transpired, argues Tansar, “violence became open and men assailed one another over variance of rank and
424 Among these one can list the usage of the old Kay¯nid names, which became prevalent only a after P¯ uz’s reign (see our discussion on page 385ff); the mention of the “Lords of Marches, of Alan ır¯ and the western region, of Khw¯rezm and K¯bul,” who can be called kings—a situation which only a a transpired during Khusrow I’s reign; the reference to the Turks who appear in the northeastern parts of Iran only in the sixth century; the borders given of the Sasanian empire; and ﬁnally the references to the treatment inﬂicted on the heretics and the emphasis on the ranked order of the social structure, which betray a Mazdakite context (see our discussion below). In her assessment of the authorship of the Letter of Tansar, Boyce admits that “the evidence for a 6th century date for the Letter is . . . considerable.” She also acknowledges the fact that the “consensus of scholarly opinion has come to be that the treatise is in fact a literary forgery perpetrated for political purposes, the prestige of the founder of the dynasty and his great herbad, Tansar, being drawn on to help Xusrau to re-establish the authority of both state and church.” Tansar 1968, Letter of Tansar, vol. XXXVIII of Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente, Rome, 1968, translated by Mary Boyce (Tansar 1968), p. 16. 425 For further evidence, see Tansar 1968, and the references cited therein. 426 Tansar 1968, p. 37. Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 19. Boyce notes signiﬁcantly that the “reading of the ıy¯ word m-r-d-h translated as work is doubtful.” Tansar 1968, p. 37, n. 5, where she refers to Minovi’s Tehran edition, p. 12, n. 5 of the Letter. I am following Iqbal’s edition of T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n in aı a . which the Letter is contained. Can an emended reading of m-r-d-h be mard, meaning men, here? 427 Tansar 1968, p. 38, Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 19–20. ıy¯

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1968, p. 38, Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 19–20. ıy¯ is to be noted that the actual term used by the Letter of Tansar, and rendered as roguery in the translation, is ayy¯ri. This is one of the many pieces of evidence at our disposal connecting the a Mazdakite social movement with the phenomenon of ayy¯ri. This latter, in turn, as we have noted a elsewhere, clearly replicated the ethos of Mihr worship. The author hopes to address this in her upcoming work on ayy¯ri and Mihr worship. a
429 It

428 Tansar

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opinion.” It is to be noted that what Tansar is describing here is an antagonism among the people of rank, a horizontal war as a result of variance of rank and opinion, and not a vertical antagonism between the four estates. Immediately afterwards this is made amply clear. For it was at this point, Tansar reminds Gushn¯sp, that the “veil of modesty and decency was lifted, and a people apa peared not enhanced by nobleness or skill or achievement nor possessed of ancestral lands; indifferent to personal worth and lineage . . . ignorant of any trade, ﬁt only to play the part of informers and evil-doers.” Through their exertions in this direction, Tansar continues, these people “gained a livelihood and reached the pinnacle of prosperity and amassed fortunes.” What we are dealing with here, in other words, is analogous to the creation of a bourgeoisie, for lack of a better term, a class amassing fortune through means other than land ownership. The signiﬁcance of this will become clear as we proceed. Thus far we do not have a description of the Mazdakite uprising, for among all our accounts of the latter it is the theme of the destruction of property that is highlighted, and while passing reference is also made to the low-born acquiring wealth, no account maintains that as a result of the uprising the Mazdakites reached the “pinnacle of prosperity and amassed fortunes.” Tansar then continues to describe this same state of affairs while replying to another, related aspect of Gushn¯sp’s accusation, the a fact that Ardash¯ I had committed excessive bloodshed. There used to be no ır reason to impose unduly harsh punishments on the population, because “people were not given to disobedience and the breach of good order.” “Were you not aware,” Tansar rhetorically asks Gushn¯sp, “that chastity and modesty and a contentment, the observance of friendship, true judgment and maintenance of blood ties, all depend upon freedom from greed?”428 Tansar then begins to describe the consequences of this state of affairs, a mass popular uprising. It is here therefore that Tansar’s description of the Mazdakite uprising starts. When “greed became manifest and corruption became rife and men ceased to submit to religion, reason, and the state,” then the “populace [ ¯mma], like demons, set at large, abandoned their tasks, and were a scattered through the cities in theft and riot, roguery and evil pursuits, until it came to this, that slaves (bandig¯n) rufﬂed it over their masters ( khud¯vandig¯n) a a a and wives laid commands upon their husbands.” Here, then, is a replica of all the other accounts contained in various versions of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition a a describing the Mazdakite uprising.429 At this point, Tansar explains, Ardash¯ I ır was compelled to use excessive force. In all probability, then, this account is not a description of the events during late Arsacid period, but of those prevailing during Qub¯d’s and Khusrow I’s reign. Tansar then describes the measures a

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§2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

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1968, p. 40; Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 20–21. ıy¯ 1968, pp. 43–44, Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 23. The emphasis of the Letter of Tansar on the ıy¯ newly fashionable trading interest of the great families is in fact quite interesting for as we know both the nobility as well as the Zoroastrian orthodoxy “relegated trading to the lowest rung of their ethic, the Dinkard considering trade as the lowest and least of activities.” Gnoli 1989, pp. 160–161, n. 37. 432 Tansar 1968, p. 41, Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 21. ıy¯
431 Tansar

430 Tansar

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taken by the king in order to rectify the turbulent conditions of the realm.430 But before proceeding with this, it is necessary to describe the following section where the theme of greed and blood-line is taken up once again. Tansar here addresses Gushn¯sp’s concerns about the affairs of the great fama ilies (ahl al-buy¯t¯t), and his complaint that “the king of kings has established ua new customs and new ways.” To this charge Tansar replies that “the decay of family and rank is two-fold in nature. In the one case men pull down the family and allow rank to be unjustly lowered [that is presumably by the king or other families].” The other case, however, and that which forms the greater cause for concern, is when “time itself . . . deprives them of honour and worth . . . Degenerate heirs appear, who adopt boorish ways and forsake noble manners . . . They busy themselves like tradesmen with the earning of money and neglect to garner fair fame. They marry among the vulgar and those who are not their peers, and from that birth and begetting men of lower rank appear.”431 Here we have likewise a description of the conditions that existed prior to the Mazdakite uprising, when greed and corruption were the order of the day and cause for neglecting the “maintenance of blood ties,” and when people busied themselves “like tradesmen with the earning of money.” The king, Tansar now explains, “set a chief (ra¯s) over each and after the ı chief an intendant ( ¯rid) to number them, and after him a trusty inspector (mua . fattish) to investigate their revenues.” A teacher was likewise appointed to each man from childhood to instruct him in his trade and calling. The king also appointed judges and priests who busied themselves with preaching and teaching. Another crucial dimension of the measures that the king undertook, however, was that he “ordered the instructor of the chivalry [Middle Persian andarzbad ¯ ı aspw¯ragan, Arabic mu addib al-as¯wira] to keep the ﬁghting-men in town and a a countryside practiced in the use of arms and all kindred arts that all the people of the realm may set about their own tasks.”432 Of two facts there can be no doubt: First, these passages deal with the corruption that had supposedly engulfed the affairs of the great families (ahl al-buy¯t¯t), that is, the Parthian dynastic families, in the period immediately precedua ing Khusrow I’s reign—a period that, as all agree, engendered the Mazdakite uprising. And second, after detailing the Mazdakite uprising, the section describes the measures undertaken by Khusrow I in remedying the greed and corruption of the great families. The Letter of Tansar is thus describing the reforms that Khusrow I undertook in order to bridle the Parthian dynastic families, the ahl al-buy¯t¯t. Among the sources of their power, the letter informs us, was the ua

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fact that they busied themselves like tradesmen with the earning of money. The fame that they achieved in this manner was not fair fame. Khusrow I’s measures consisted in the appointment of a chief and an intendant ( ¯riz) over these dya . nastic families in their provinces. The function of this ¯riz is, in fact, extremely a . signiﬁcant. His responsibility was “to number them”, that is to say, to take a census. This census, however, was not only of the tillers of the land under the dynasts’ control, but also of the ﬁghting men whom the Parthian dynasts contributed to the kings’ army. The responsibility of the inspector (mufattish), in turn, was an investigation of the revenues produced by the tillers. Part of Bal am¯ account on Khusrow I’s reforms seems to be, in fact, an ı’s abridgment of the Letter of Tansar.433 Here Bal am¯ informs us that after Khusı row I Nowsh¯ an implemented the taxation reforms, he used these revenues ırv¯ to re-arrange the army, “so that, as we know whence this wealth comes, so we would know where it is going.”434 The information that Bal am¯ subsequently ı provides is of signiﬁcant value for assessing not only the maladies affecting the Sasanian army prior to Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an’s reign, but also the part played ırv¯ by the Parthian dynastic families, who provided the backbone of this very army. Khusrow I appointed a certain B¯bak-i Behruw¯n435 to pinpoint the precise a a problems affecting the army. He complained to B¯bak-i Behruw¯n that the a a criteria through which they distributed remuneration to the army lacked any justice and logic whatsoever. He then instructed B¯bak-i Behruw¯n to implea a ment measures to rectify the situation, allocating to the grandees (mah¯budh¯n) a a what they deserved. A long list of problems are then enumerated by the king. “There are those, whose worth is 1000 dirham who receive only 100. There are those who do not have a mount, but who receive the pay of the cavalry. There are those who have a mount, but who do not know how to ride. There exist those who are not archers, but receive the salary of an archer, and the same with swords and lances.”436 B¯bak-i Behruw¯n was then instructed to restructure the a a army437 and allocate to each member of the cavalry and the infantry a ﬁxed pay,
433 The reforms of Khusrow I in one of the recensions of Bal am¯ work appear under the headings ı’s “taxation measures” and “reform of the army.” Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 169–171 and 171–175 respectively. ı For an erudite exposition of the variant recensions of this work, see Daniel, Elton L., ‘Manuscripts and Editions of Bal’ami’s Tarjamah-yi Tarikh-i Tabari’, Journal of the American Oriental Society pp. 282–321 (Daniel 1990). 434 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 172: ı

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the reading of the name see Tafazzoli 2000, p. 23, n. 25, and p. 15, n. 86. p. 172. 437 A similarly detailed list of the precise measures to be implemented is also given. Each cavalry is then required to wear complete armor, their mail, with complete upper part, together with a stirrup. On their heads must be a helmet, and they should carry chains and foreleg covers (bar sar khud va silsila o s¯ghayn). On their arms must be iron forearms (va andar dast s¯ idayn-i ¯han¯n). a a a ı On their mounts there must be a mail (bargustv¯n bar asp). They should have a spear, a sword, and a a shield, and they should be wearing a belt, have a feed bag, and an ironed mace. On the saddle bow (bih yik s¯y-i k¯hih) there must be a battle ax and on the back of the saddle a bow-holder (kam¯nd¯n) u u a a
436 Bal am¯ 1959, ı

435 For

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with two bows. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 172. ı 438 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 172. For the seals, the majority of which belong to the Pahlav lands of Amul, ¯ ı Dam¯vand, Hamad¯n, Gurg¯n, Rayy, Tus, and Q¯mis; see Gyselen 2002, pp. 61–69. a a a u .¯

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the latter not receiving less than a 100 dirhams. In the symbolic narrative that follows, however, the jackals appearing in the lands of the Arabs heralded the injustices precipitated by the reforms undertaken by Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an. ırv¯ Characteristically, the m¯badh¯n m¯badh articulated this: the k¯rd¯r¯n (tax colo a o a aa lectors) in charge of collecting the taxes (harag, khar¯j) after the reforms, had a been oppressing the peasantry. They were collecting more than the regulated taxes and were inﬂicting injustice. Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an then appointed m¯ırv¯ o bads over the k¯rd¯rs, hence the profusion of seals belonging to m¯bads (maguh) a a o in precisely the regions belonging to the Parthian families.438 The dynamics of the relationship of the Parthian dynasts with the central administration prior to the reforms is thus fully exposed in Bal am¯ narratives. ı’s Prior to the reforms, the dynasts were responsible for forwarding to the central treasury the revenue that they had procured from their domains. In the assessment of their revenue, and the part that they were expected to forward to the central administration, however, they entered calculations that did not reﬂect the actual amount of wealth that they had collected or needed to spend. Taxation from trade through their territories, as the Letter of Tansar informs us, most probably greatly augmented this wealth. A cadastral survey and the imposition of a ﬁxed rate of taxation, which, once decided upon, was no longer left to the self-serving calculations of the dynasts but was to be forwarded directly to the central administration, was meant to fund the central treasury with the actual wealth of the empire. But, as Bal am¯ narrative signiﬁcantly underlines, there was a second, very ı’s important mechanism through which the central treasury lost a substantial amount of wealth: the Parthian dynasts deducted exaggerated expenses for the armies that they provided. They counted as cavalry those who were only infantry and without any mounts. They deducted inﬂated expenses for providing their armies with costly armor and war gear, which they then did not provide. As the organization of their army was at their own discretion, they might have used untrained peasants or slaves, or mercenaries whom they probably paid less, as cavalry, the reduced expenses of which they nevertheless calculated as cavalry pay. They might have refused to pay a cavalry member his proper dues as a member, hence the king’s complaint that there were mounts without riders. In short, they greatly overestimated their expenses and thereafter deducted these when they provided the Sasanians with armed contingents. Add to this the proceeds from trade, and one could very well imagine the substantial amount of wealth that never actually left Parthian domains in order to make its way to the central Sasanian treasury. No wonder the Letter of Tansar complains that the ahl al-buy¯t¯t had acquired tremendous wealth. Part of this wealth, as the Letter ua of Tansar maintains, came from trade, when degenerate heirs adopted boorish

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1968, p. 37. Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 19. ıy¯ 1995, p. 251. 441 Rubin 1995, p. 256. The remarkable involvement of m¯bads in implementing Khusrow I’s o reforms is corroborated by the primary sources recently unearthed (see footnote 438), a discovery that proves the substantial soundness of not only Rubin’s conclusions, but also his methodology. 442 Rubin 1995, p. 293. 443 Rubin 1995, p. 292. Emphasis mine
440 Rubin

439 Tansar

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ways and, forsaking noble manners, busied “themselves like tradesmen with the earning of money and neglect[ed] to garner fair fame.” As Bal am¯ narrative ı’s makes clear, however, a substantial part of this wealth was gained as a result of the direct control that these dynasts had on the collection of revenue from their domains and the liberty that they had in dispensing this wealth. The Sasanians had very little control over all of this, and hence the dire need for a reform of the system. A strict echelon of control, of checks and balances and counter-checks, had to be imposed in order to even begin to address the problem. As Gushn¯sp a put it, “the King of Kings demands of men earnings and work.”439 As Zeev Rubin’s admirable studies have shown, however, the system introduced was itself very soon beset with problems and, as Bal am¯ narrative highlights, susceptiı’s ble to perennial abuse, over-collection, and under-accountability of the wealth produced by the empire. Such extensive and potentially meticulous degrees of control over Parthian domains and interference in their affairs were probably unprecedented in Sasanian history; hence the rebellion of one Parthian dynast after another during and after the reign of Khusrow I’s son, Hormozd IV, and the downward spiral of the Sasanian state when the measures imposed sapped the decentralized system that had hitherto functioned with comparatively much greater success. Rubin argues that Khusrow I does not seem to have been as vigorous a personality as conventional sources make him to be. Newly tapped sources for Khusrow I’s reform present him as “a vacillating and temperamental ruler who bows to pressure and contents himself at the very end of the day with the introduction of half measures.”440 The ﬁscal reform that he is said to have successfully implemented, moreover, took a long time to implement, and was susceptible to tremendous abuse. The built-in control mechanism imposed by Khusrow I implied an intense involvement of the m¯bads, as they were supposed to o ensure the just implementation of the reforms.441 But this control mechanism, supervised by “the qud¯t al-kuwar, none other than provincial m¯bads, under u .a the authority of the great m¯bads, proved to be as susceptible to corruption as u the system that had to be controlled.”442 To be sure, for “a time the new system appeared to be functioning in perfect order. [And] [r]oyal revenues from the land and poll taxes were doubled.”443 But there were other, perhaps even more powerful forces at work that seem to have helped Khusrow I to achieve this. There is ﬁrst the issue of other, substantial sources of income that aided Khusrow I through his ﬁrst four decades of rule. One of the most important of these was the customs on the silk trade that ran through the Iranian territories,

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speciﬁcally the Parthian regions, one might add. This wealth seems to have augmented the income of the central treasury of Khusrow I. As the Letter of Tansar implies, Khusrow I was envious of the wealth from the silk trade revenues monopolized by the Parthian dynasts. Neither were the subsidies paid by the Byzantines, amounting to 11,000 pounds of gold, an unwelcome windfall for Khusrow I at the conclusion of their peace treaty.444 The circulation of currency in the market seems to have been also plentiful, and this not on account of the “economic soundness of the system as whole,” but due to the fact that the volume of silver currency was on the rise ever since Sh¯p¯r II’s reign, becoming a u especially noticeable during the rule of P¯ uz. Other economic indices, such ır¯ as agricultural productivity, seem also to have been on the rise, offsetting inﬂationary tendencies inherent in the increased ﬂow of currency.445 The successes of Khusrow I both internally and in his external relations seem, therefore, to have been affected by other factors besides the putative success of his ﬁscal reforms. As for the question of the manpower necessary to sustain a standing army, Rubin’s study shows clearly that the dearth of manpower contemporaneous even with the reforms of Khusrow I seems to have led to, as Rubin put it, a “barbarization of the Sasanian army.”446 Rubin’s evidence pertaining to the end of Khusrow I’s reign, “when enough time had passed for his ﬁscal reforms to have an impact on the organization of the army,”447 contains the startling feature that even after the reforms, Khusrow I was forced to continue enlisting nomadic groups as a source of manpower for the army, a practice without which Qub¯d himself could not have regained his kingdom. What is more, a this evidence suggests that the standing army created by Khusrow I was “signiﬁcantly ineffective in warfare against the Turks [the Sasanian enemies in the East], prone to alarm and demoralization.”448 In short, as Rubin observes, the picture that may be drawn from this evidence “is a far cry from that of an army whose backbone is provided by a restored class of rural landlords, the dehk¯ns.”449 In fact, the continuing use of dynastic armies during Khusrow I’s a reign is clearly reﬂected in Simocatta’s narrative: As the Byzantine campaigns “ravaged through Azerbaijan as far as the Caspian (Hyrcanian) Sea in 577, . . . unlike the Romans going on campaign, Persians do not receive payment from the treasury, not even when they are assembled in their villages and ﬁelds; but the customary distributions from the king constitute a law of self-sufﬁciency for them, they administer these provisions to obtain a subsistence and hence are forced to support themselves together with their animals until such time as they

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1995, pp. 262–263, nn. 86–90. this and the complicated issues of Sasanian monetary system, see Rubin 1995, pp. 262–263, and the sources cited there. 446 Rubin 1995, p. 285. 447 Rubin 1995, p. 280. 448 Simocatta also observes that in Hormozd IV’s war against the Byzantines in 582–586, the Parthian general Kard¯r¯ a ıgan “was marching against the Romans. Having enrolled throngs, who were not soldiers but men inexperienced in martial clamour.” Simocatta 1986, p. 52. 449 Rubin 1995, p. 283.
445 For

444 Rubin

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invade a land.”450 That there were recruits from the nobility is acknowledged by Rubin. These, however, must have been drawn from the ranks of those nobility whose parentage was not clear. Why would Khusrow I recruit from among the ranks of these? The answer brings us full circle to the Mazdakite social uprising.451 For the problem created by the Mazdakite movement, with its supposed indulgence in the practice of ib¯ha ’l-nis¯, “was not that there [were] a a no young men of aristocratic origin [as the noble families will have been blessed as a rule with many children] but rather that there were too many youngsters of unrecognized parenthood at the fringes of the aristocracy, which Khusrow I was striving to restore.”452 Why would Khusrow I—whose quintessential aim in the reforms is said to have been the sapping of the powers of the nobility—want to restore this same nobility? Contemporary scholarship has yet to answer this. For the contention that these were a nobility of the robe and therefore directly answerable to Khusrow I, not only disregards the subsequent course of Sasanian history, but neither can it accommodate the new evidence brought forth in the present study. What is clear is that the effects of Khusrow I’s reforms are wrought with so many complications and uncertainties that the Christensenian thesis of a strong centralizing monarch in the person of Khusrow I falls seriously short. The whole issue, however, takes us back to the Mazdakite social uprising. As far as the Mazdakite rebellion(s)[?] is concerned, what must be borne in mind is that in spite of the tremendous social and doctrinal inﬂuence of the Mazdakites—and in spite of the legacy that they left well into the Islamic centuries—their revolutionary dictum of overhauling the rigid class-based order of society was evidently never achieved. The social, political, and economic ramiﬁcations of the Mazdakite doctrine, even if we were to uncritically follow the sources, were simply too threatening to the status quo. There is no denying the fact that as an ideology the Mazdakite heresy had a long-lasting effect. As an ideology it had successfully exploited, as we shall see,453 the Mithraic ethos of the Circle of Justice,454 and there are a number of indications that, as an ideology, Mazdakism had permeated Iranian society for an extended period prior to its eruption as a mass popular uprising.455 This does not seem to have been the case as far as the social consequences of the Mazdakite uprising are concerned, however. Much has been said of these destructive effects of the Mazdakite uprising on the class structure of Iranian society. There is probably some truth to this, as these effects are the focus of many of the sources dealing with it. As far as

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450 “In this instance, [i.e., toward the end of Khusrow I’s reign,] the king of the Persians, fearing mutinies in his army, resolved to participate in discussions about peace with Tiberius [II] the Caesar [(574, 578–582)].” Simocatta 1986, iii. 15.4, 5, p. 95, n. 66 and p. 96. Emphasis added. 451 Rubin 1995, p. 291. 452 Rubin 1995, p. 291. 453 See §5.2.7. 454 See page 354. 455 Crone, Patricia, ‘Kav¯d’s Heresy and Mazdak’s Revolt’, Iran: Journal of Persian Studies XXIX, a (1991b), pp. 21–42 (Crone 1991b).

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overhauling, or even seriously threatening, the rigid class structure of Sasanian society is concerned, however, the testimony of the sources—which, after all, bear witness to the normative, strictly class-based, dimensions of Iranian society and which were reworked by the Sasanians after the eruption of the revolts— needs to be dealt with cautiously. This is especially the case where the effects of the movement on the upper echelons of Iranian society, like the Parthian dynastic families, are concerned. The crucial problem here is that the testimony of these sources needs to be weighed against the agnatic character of Iranian society.456 The economic, politico-religious, and ﬁnally territorial dimensions of the agnatic structure of Iranian society, and the strong cohesive bonds that these established, rendered the fabric of Iranian society far too interconnected for it to be overhauled easily. This agnatic structure especially applied to the Parthian dynastic families. The disruptions ostensibly caused by the Mazdakite uprising in the fabric of dynastic communities, therefore, have to be gauged against the formation of these latter as agnatic groups. In view of this, the contention that the Mazdakite social uprising—even if we were to believe its destructive force as our sources would have us believe— severely disrupted the power bases of the great dynastic families needs to be reassessed. An extensive destruction of property in times of revolutionary fervor is one thing, but to romanticize the effects of the Mazdakite social uprising and argue that it decimated substantial agnatic groups of dynastic families implies a revolutionary upheaval of such intensity that, considering the coercive powers at the disposal of these same dynastic families, is hard to imagine. Members of a particular branch of agnatically based dynastic families might have been particularly hard hit, but there were, as Rubin notes, certainly enough of them to go around. In keeping with the Sasanian legal system, another branch of the same family could very well have claimed and inherited the powers of the family as a whole subsequently. That neither the Mazdakite uprising, nor the reforms of Khusrow I were able to undermine—or, in the case of the latter, were even meant to undermine—the power of these families is, in fact, borne out clearly by the course of Sasanian history from the reign of Khusrow I onward. In order to assess this, we shall have to abandon temporarily our chronological narrative for the reigns of Khusrow I, Hormozd IV, and Khusrow II. 2.5.3 The four generals

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456 As Perikhanian observes the agnatic structure was a quality intrinsic to “the [social] structures . . . [and] organization of the whole civic population of Iran.” Perikhanian 1983, pp. 641–642; see also our discussion in §1.2.

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One of the many points of controversy over Khusrow I’s reforms has had to do with whether or not, in the course of his military and administrative reforms, the king replaced—as our literary sources inform us—the ofﬁce of ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed ea a (ispahbadh al-bil¯d or supreme commander of the land) with that of four sp¯ha a . beds assigned to the four cardinal points of the Sasanian empire. The thesis that such a reorganization was undertaken by Khusrow I was ﬁrst promulgated

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most forcefully by Christensen. In recent decades, however, this measure of Khusrow I’s reforms has come under intense scrutiny. In 1984, for example, Gignoux questioned the historicity of the alleged quadripartition of the empire under Khusrow I. Arguing on the basis of the dearth of primary inscriptions, stamps, seals, coins, and so on—as opposed to literary sources—that testify to such a reorganization, Gignoux contended that the notion of an administrative quadripartition of the empire was most probably largely symbolic with no correspondence to any historical reality.457 Following Gignoux, others accepted his conclusion that the administrative quadripartition was probably no more than a literary topos, but argued that the military quadripartition of the empire was probably “not totally devoid of historical value.”458 While questions surrounding the precise boundaries of the four k¯sts are still outstanding,459 and u while the longevity of this quadripartition after Khusrow I is still open to dispute,460 its implementation under Khusrow I is now established beyond doubt by Gyselen’s sigillographic discovery.461 Quadripartition of the empire One paramount feature of Khusrow I’s reform was the military and possibly administrative quadripartition of the empire, where the king divided his realm into four quarters or k¯sts.462 Over each of these he appointed a supreme comu mander, a sp¯hbed. Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an undertook these measures, it was a ırv¯ argued, in order to further centralize his rule. This was yet another attempt at undercutting the powers of the nobility, in other words. The king was successful in achieving this and through his reign there were no major uprisings. These sp¯hbeds, it was argued, like the new army that Khusrow I crea ated, did not belong to the ranks of the nobility and most certainly did not come from the Parthian dynastic families. During the rule of Hormozd IV, however, something unprecedented happened: For some inexplicable reason, a Parthian dynast, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ of the house of Mihr¯n, launched a maa u ın a jor uprising that engulfed the quarters of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n) and u a a a
457 Gignoux, Philippe, ‘Les quatres régions administratives de l’Iran Sassanide et la symbolique des nombres trois et quatre’, Annali dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale 44, (1984), pp. 555–572 (Gignoux 1984), pp. 555–572. 458 Gnoli, Gherarldo, ‘The Quadripartition of the Sassanian Empire’, East and West 35, (1985), pp. 265–270 (Gnoli 1985), p. 266. 459 Gyselen 2001a, pp. 15–16, and the references cited therein. 460 Gnoli 1985, pp. 268–269. We will argue below that it was even in place as late as Khusrow II’s reign. 461 A seal fragment of a n¯mr¯z sp¯hbed (supreme commander of the south/N¯ uz), discovered in e o a ımr¯ 1991, was already acknowledged by Gignoux as sufﬁcient evidence to this effect. Gignoux, Philippe, ‘A propos de quelque inscriptions et bulles Sassanides’, in Histoires et Cultes de l’Asie Centrale préislamique: Sources écrites et documents archéologique, pp. 65–69, 1991b (Gignoux 1991b). 462 The paradigmatic articulation of this, as other aspects of Khusrow I’s reforms, seems to have been made in Christensen 1944, pp. 364–373. For some of the subsequent scholarship on this see Gignoux 1984; Gnoli 1985; and most recently, Rubin 1995, and the sources cited therein.

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463 For our discussion of the political and religious aspects of this rebellion, see §2.6.3 and §6.1 respectively. 464 Boyce, Mary, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, London, 1979 (Boyce 1979), p. 142. 465 See §2.7.1 below.

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east (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n).463 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion was unprecedented in a u aa a u ın’s number of ways. To begin with, it marked the ﬁrst time in Sasanian history when a Parthian dynast questioned the very legitimacy of the Sasanians and rebelled against the P¯rs¯ Signiﬁcantly, as Boyce underlines, the rebellion also a ıg. showed “how sturdy a resistance Iran had put up to Persian propaganda about the illegitimacy of the Arsacids.”464 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion was ultimately a u ın’s put down and the rebel killed. In order to do this, however, as we shall see, the Sasanians were forced to muster all of their resources, including, signiﬁcantly, the aid of other Parthian dynastic families. What is more, the Parthian Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ and his powerful constituency had in a sense achieved part of their inu ın tended aim before their defeat: they had deposed and murdered the ruling king, Hormozd IV, and had raised to the throne another, Khusrow II Parv¯ In ız. fact, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion was only put down at the inception of Khusa u ın’s row II’s reign. Even considering what little we have enumerated so far about the saga of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ historical hindsight should have already alerted a u ın, us to the problems in Christensen’s thesis and led us to suspect the continued and forceful power of this Parthian dynastic family in the post-reform period of Sasanian history. We recall that it was the Mihr¯ns who had helped secure Qub¯d’s power a a against the stranglehold of the K¯rins. As far as Khusrow I’s quadripartition a of his realm—intended to further undermine the power base of the nobility— is concerned, therefore, the questions before us are as follows: what happened to the Mihr¯ns after Khusrow I’s reforms? And if in fact they had been deca imated in the course of these reforms, as we are led to believe, why did they so forcefully appear again during the reign of Hormozd IV? The problem, furthermore, is that the Mihr¯ns were not the only Parthian dynastic family who a reappeared, almost volcanically, in subsequent Sasanian history. Shortly after Khusrow II’s accession to power, yet another powerful Parthian dynast, Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n family, launched a second major rebellion.465 This a a time, Vist¯hm did not limit himself to merely disrupting the kingdom and ena gaging in rhetoric over the legitimacy of the Sasanians. He in fact carved for himself an independent kingdom covering most of the quarters of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n) and east (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n). Neither would this be the last u a a a u aa time the Pahlav rebelled against the P¯rs¯ and assumed the crown. To the dea ıg tails of each of these episodes in Sasanian history, we shall get shortly. For now it is worth highlighting again the inadequacies of the conventional portrayal of the rule of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an as a centralizing monarch and his preırv¯ sumed success in establishing an absolutist polity. Why did Parthian dynasts rise one after another if Khusrow I was in fact so successful in his reformist

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466 Toumanoff

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policies? What then of the destructive effects of the Mazdakite rebellion on the elitist fabric of Sasanian society? The paradigmatic Christensenian thesis once again falls short, because it uncritically accepts the Sasanians’ portrayal of themselves. Khusrow I’s quadripartition of his empire in fact engaged the same long-established pattern of Sasanian polity: the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy, through which it continued to function. There was no discontinuity in the power of Parthian dynastic families, and no overhaul of the power of these, during his reign. To the contrary, major Pahlav families continued to be as much involved in the power structure of Khusrow I’s administration as previously. To be sure, there continued to be the ebb and ﬂow of the fortunes of particular dynastic families. But even in this the power structure of Sasanian polity had remained unscathed. What is our evidence for this? All our literary sources, Armenian, Greek, and Arabic, as well as the Sh¯ha n¯ma, attest that the paradigmatic image of Khusrow I as an all-powerful moa narch who through his reforms undermined the power of the great nobility needs to be substantially revised. The pattern of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy lasted through the reforms of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an and into the reigns ırv¯ of Hormozd IV (579–590) and Khusrow II Parv¯ (591–628). Already by Horız mozd IV’s time, however, and partly as result of the reforms of Khusrow I, the mechanisms that had ensured the collaboration of the Pahlav with the P¯ra s¯ began to crumble, however. The end result of this was that the Sasanians ıg lost their legitimacy, a legitimacy that they had in fact sustained through this confederacy. The collaboration between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ was predia ıg cated upon a broad understanding through which the Pahlav agreed to Sasanian kingship in return for maintaining a substantial degree of independence in their respective Pahlav territories. These were concentrated in the quarters of the east and the north, including the Partho–Median territory, the control of which remained, in the words of Toumanoff, allodial, that is, absolute and inalienable, to the Pahlav dynastic families.466 Within the heavily agricultural territories of the north, east, and south—the last of which will not be the focus of our studies—the agnatic dynasts maintained their hegemony, while upholding the Sasanians by contributing military manpower and agricultural revenues to the central treasury. In the process of dividing his realm into four quarters, however, Khusrow I introduced, as we shall see, one other novelty: he uprooted some of the chief agnates of key dynastic families from their traditional territories and relocated these to other parts of the realm, putting them in charge of the home territories of other agnatic families. By this means he seems to have intended to undermine the agnatic bonds of these families with their constituency. This measure of reform, like the others, not only did not have its anticipated results, but even further antagonized the dynastic families. Khusrow I had attempted to break the tradition of non-interference in the affairs of the Parthian dynastic families.

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§2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

Recently discovered sp¯hbed seals a The remarkable fact about the continued dependence of the Sasanians on the Parthian dynasts is that the recent sigillographic evidence corroborates the literary evidence. What then is the nature of the sigillographic evidence? In 2001, Rika Gyselen published the results of an incredible discovery that she had recently made in London.467 These were a set of seal impressions or bullae. Upon closer examination, she ascertained these to belong to the period of the quadripartition of the empire, and to the various sp¯hbeds assigned to the a four quarters of the Sasanian empire. One of the greatest ﬁnds of the past century, as far as the primary sources for Sasanian history are concerned, this set of sigillographic evidence contains a wealth of information as to the identity of the four generals, sp¯hbeds, who, in the wake of Khusrow I’s reforms, were a appointed to the four quarters of the realm. To begin with, the seals provide us with the names and the titles of these sp¯hbeds. Literary evidence can be para ticularly notorious if used for identiﬁcation of paramount ﬁgures of Sasanian history. Where available, names are subject to scribal errors, linguistic transformations from one language to another, and limitations of the literary sources in general. In terms of our ability to identify these ﬁgures, therefore, the seals are, in and of themselves, highly signiﬁcant. For, as we shall presently see, where identiﬁcation is possible we can now investigate the tremendous part played by the Parthian dynastic families in late Sasanian history by comparing the names of these generals, as they appear on the seals, to those given in our secondary and tertiary sources, and where possible to follow their sagas in late Sasanian history. At times, however, the seals also provide us with crucial information on the gentilitial background of these ﬁgures, thereby clarifying the dynastic family to which they belong. For among the seals recently discovered, there are those that insist on distinguishing the holder of the ofﬁce as a Parthian aspbed, aspbed i pahlaw,468 or, alternatively, as a Persian aspbed, aspbed i p¯rsig,469 conﬁrming a in fact one of the theses proposed in this study. As the seals bear witness, the incredible dichotomy of the Parthian (Pahlav) versus Pers¯ (P¯rs¯ afﬁliation ıs a ıg)
467 I was not aware of Gyselen’s work on the Four Generals until I had ﬁnished investigating the literary evidence for the Parthian participation in Sasanian history. The fact that the sigillographic evidence in fact corroborates the hypotheses that I had reached prior to having access to these becomes therefore all the more signiﬁcant and testiﬁes to the value inherent in literary sources for reconstructing Sasanian history. The present discussion is based on Gyselen 2001a; Gyselen 2002; Gyselen, Rika, ‘Lorsque l’archéologie rencontre la tradition littéraire: les titres des chefs d’armée de l’Iran Sassanide’, Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres Jan, (2001b), pp. 447–459 (Gyselen 2001b); Gyselen, Rika, ‘La notion Sassanide du Kust î Âdurbâdagân: les premières attestations sigillographiques’, Bulletin de la Société Française de Numismatique 55, (2000), pp. 213– 220 (Gyselen 2000). I am indebted to Rika Gyselen for kindly providing me with copies of her valuable works. For a complete list of the seals, see notes 473 and 477, as well as Table 6.3 on page 470. 468 Gyselen 2001a, seal 1b of a ﬁgure called D¯d-Burz-Mihr, p. 36, and the personal seal of this a same ﬁgure, seal A, p. 46. 469 Gyselen 2001a, seal 2c, p. 39, and the personal seal of this same ﬁgure, seal B, p. 46.

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of members of high nobility and the clear importance of such afﬁliations, persisted through the reforms of Khusrow I and in fact to the end of the Sasanian period. Taken together with the names, this information on the gentilitial background of the four generals, the territorial domains under their control, as well as the kings under whom they served,470 enables us ﬁnally not only to prove the continued participation of the Parthian dynastic families in the sociopolitical structure of late Sasanian history, but, through our literary sources, also to investigate the nature of this participation at this crucial juncture of Iranian history. Signiﬁcantly, the seals underline one crucial fact: the Sasanians were unable to destroy either the Parthian dynastic families or their consciousness of their Pahlav ancestry. The P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav dichotomy which had begun, as Eddy underlines, with the very rise of the Parthians in the third century BCE,471 therefore, continued to inform Iranian history through the end of the Sasanian period. Finally, as we shall see in our examination of the religious panorama of the Sasanians, the seals also shed light on the religious afﬁliations of the four generals,472 information which becomes tremendously signiﬁcant in the context of the debates surrounding the religious trends existing within the Sasanian empire. Speciﬁcally, as we shall see, this information highlights the fact that the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav consciousness of their heritage percolated, as a general rule, into the religious traditions that the members of each group embraced. There are two crucial issues, moreover, that this evidence establishes beyond any doubt. First and foremost, not only did the power of major Parthian dynastic families already on the rise not abate in the post-Mazdakite and post-reform period of Sasanian history, but, in fact, Khusrow I continued to avail himself of the powers of at least three of these families, the Mihr¯ns, the K¯rins, and the a a Ispahbudh¯n—whose saga we shall shortly discuss. Second, the sigillographic a evidence corroborates the literary evidence and above all the information contained in the Sh¯hn¯ma. It is time, therefore, to search these literary traditions, a a including the Sh¯hn¯ma, which are predominantly based on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a a a tradition, for further evidence. For these in fact do allow us to reconstruct the Sasanian history not only from the center, the cradle of P¯rs¯ domination, but a ıg also from the edge, the domains of the Parthian dynastic families. The collection unearthed by Gyselen contains eleven seals belonging to eight different sp¯hbeds, of all four quarters of the Sasanian realm, from the reign a of Khusrow I onward.473 Two sp¯hbeds have seals showing their appointment a

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470 The monarchs named on the seals are Khusrow and Hormozd. As we shall argue shortly, these pertain to the rules of Khusrow I, Hormozd IV, and Khusrow II. 471 See our discussion in §5.3.3. 472 Gyselen, Rika, ‘Les grands feux de l’empire Sassanide: quelques témoignages sigillographiques’, in Religious themes and texts of pre-Islamic Iran and Central Asia: Studies in honour of Professor Gherardo Gnoli, Wiesbaden, 2003 (Gyselen 2003), especially pp. 134–135. See Chapter 5, especially page 364. 473 Seal 1a, “Cihr-Burz¯n . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the east (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n),” belonging to ˇ e ea a u aa a ea a Khusrow’s reign; seal 1b, “D¯d-Burz-Mihr, Parthian aspbed . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the east ¯ (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n),” belonging to Hormozd IV’s reign; seal 2a, “Wahr¯m ... Adurm¯h . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hu aa a a ea a

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§2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

under two separate kings, one of the two Khusrows474 and Hormozd IV;475 one sp¯hbed has two seals which are identical except for the addition “[of the] Miha r¯n [family]” on the second;476 and the remaining ﬁve seals pertain each to a a sp¯hbed under a single king. Apart from these eleven sp¯hbed seals, the colleca a tion also contains two personal seals, each belonging to one of the individuals already named on the sp¯hbed seals.477 Hence in total, the collection consists of a thirteen seals. Signiﬁcantly, of these thirteen seals, two that belong to the same individual identify the bearer as a Parthian aspbed,478 and two, also belonging to one individual, identify the bearer as a Persian aspbed.479 Three seals, belonging to three separate ﬁgures, moreover identify the bearer as belonging to the Mihr¯n family.480 Because the Mihr¯ns also claimed a Parthian ancestry, together a a with the two Parthian aspbed seals, according to the given information of the seals alone, ﬁve481 out of the thirteen seals unearthed by Gyselen already belong to Parthian dynastic families. But the seals can further corroborate the continued participation of the Parthian dynastic families in the post-reform period and in fact through the rest of Sasanian history. For with the aid of narrative histories, central among which
bed of the side of the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z),” belonging to Khusrow’s reign; seal 2b, “Wahr¯m ... u e o a ¯ Adurm¯h . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z),” belonging to Hormozd IV’s a ea a u e o reign; seal 2c, “W¯h-Š¯buhr, Persian aspbed, . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the south (k¯st-i n¯me a ea a u e r¯z),” belonging to Khusrow’s reign; seal 2d/1, “P¯ o ırag-i Šahrwar¯z . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of a ea a the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z),” belonging to Khusrow’s reign; seal 2d/2, “P¯ u e o ırag-i Šahrwar¯z . . . ¯r¯na ea sp¯hbed of the side of the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z), [of the] Mihr¯n [family],” belonging to Khusrow’s a u e o a reign; seal 3a, “Wistaxm, haz¯rbed . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the west (k¯st-i khwar¯r¯n [sic]),” a ea a u aa belonging to Khusrow’s reign; seal 3b, “Wistaxm, haz¯rbed . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the west a ea a (k¯st-i khwarbar¯n),” belonging to Hormozd IV’s reign; seal 4a, “G¯r-g¯n [of the] Mihr¯n [family] u a o o a . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n),” belonging to Khusrow’s reign; seal ea a u a a a 4b, “S¯d-h¯š [of the] Mihr¯n [family] . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n),” e o a ea a u a a a belonging to Khusrow’s reign. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 35-45 consecutively. 474 The name of the king only appears as Khusrow on the seals, making an identiﬁcation of which Khusrow extremely difﬁcult. Rika Gyselen has argued that all of these seals must belong to the period of Khusrow I and Hormozd IV. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 18–20. As we shall see, the present study will argue that while some of the attributions of the seals to Khusrow I remain valid, others must be dated to Khusrow II. 475 Seals of Wahr¯m Adurm¯h, seals 2a and 2b; and Wistakhm, seals 3a and 3b. Gyselen 2001a, a ¯ a pp. 37–38, 40–41 and 42–43 respectively. 476 P¯ ırag-i Shahrwar¯z, seals 2d/1 and 2d/2 respectively. Gyselen 2001a, p. 43. a 477 Seal A, “D¯d-Burz-Mihr, Parthian aspbed, refuge into Burz¯n-Mihr”; seal B, “W¯h-Š¯buhr, Pera e e a sian aspbed,” who are identical with those mentioned in seals 1b and 2c respectively. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 36 and 39. For a table with all these seals, see page 470. 478 D¯d-Burz-Mihr, seal 1b and seal A. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 36 and 46 respectively. It is extremely a interesting to note that on the personal seal, Seal A, “on trouve le motif, plutôt rare, de deux chevaux ailès, choix qui peut être mis en relation avec le titre aspbed, litteralement maître du cheval.” This also applies, however, to Seal B, p. 46, which has the same motif of two horses facing each other, but with the addition of a tree between them. See also footnote 602. 479 W¯h-Sh¯buhr, seal 2c and seal B. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 39 and 46 respectively. e a 480 Those of P¯ ırag-i Shahrwar¯z, seal 2d/2, of G¯r-g¯n, seal 4a, and of S¯d-h¯sh. Gyselen 2001a, a o o e o pp. 41, 42 and 43 respectively. As already noted, P¯ ırag-i Shahrwar¯z has a second seal, seal 2d/1, a without his family name Mihr¯n, but otherwise identical to seal 2d/2; see also footnote 768. a 481 In fact, six, when we also count seal 2d/1, of the same person as seal 2d/2.

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is the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ we will establish that, except for the two seals of a a ı, the Persian aspbed,482 and two seals of a ﬁgure whose gentilitial background remains unclear,483 in fact nine seals belonged to Parthian dynastic families.484 What is more, we can now conﬁrm that together with the Mihr¯ns already a mentioned in the seals, we have also sp¯hbeds among the Parthian K¯rin and a a Ispahbudh¯n families. Moreover, some of the seals that have been identiﬁed by a Gyselen as belonging to the reign of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an actually belong ırv¯ to that of Khusrow II Parv¯ The ramiﬁcations of this novel piece of inforız. mation for understanding the course of Sasanian history are tremendous. The seals conﬁrm not only the continued participation of Parthian dynasts after the Mazdakite uprising through the reigns of Khusrow I, Hormozd IV, and Khusrow II, but also prove that neither Qub¯d nor Khusrow I were able to signiﬁa cantly change the fundamental dynamics of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy. In order to establish our claims we should return to our narrative. We recall that faced with the overwhelming military and ﬁnancial powers of the K¯rinid a Sukhr¯, Qub¯d had been forced to appeal to the Mihr¯nid Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ his a a a a u a ı, supreme commander of the land (ispahbadh al-bil¯d), thus setting off a war bea . tween the two dynastic families. This dynastic struggle among the Parthians led to the victory of the Mihr¯ns, and the temporary fall from power of the a K¯rins. What then was the fate of the Mihr¯ns and other dynastic families in a a the wake of the Mazdakite uprising, Khusrow I’s assumption of power, and the military reforms that he inaugurated? We should reiterate that, according to conventional wisdom, both the Mazdakite uprising and Khusrow I’s reforms are thought to have seriously undermined the power of the hitherto independent Parthian dynastic families. 2.5.4 The Mihr¯ns a

Signiﬁcantly, the seals already give substantial evidence of the paramount role of the Mihr¯ns in Khusrow I’s military administration. On Gyselen’s seals, a three out of the eight sp¯hbeds who assumed ofﬁce during and subsequent to a the rule of Khusrow I belong to the Mihr¯n family. Of these, two485 were a sp¯hbeds of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n), and one, belonging to a certain P¯ a u a a a ırag-i Shahrwar¯z of the Mihr¯n family, was a sp¯hbed of the south.486 All of a a a these seals have been attributed by Gyselen to Khusrow I’s administration.487

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482 W¯h-Sh¯buhr, seal 2c and seal B. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 39 and 46 respectively. See, however, e a footnote 840, postulating its S¯renid afﬁliation. u 483 Wahr¯m Adurm¯h, seals 2a and 2b. Although we will further identify this ﬁgure in §2.6.1 a ¯ a below as Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar, I have not been able to determine the dynastic family to which he a a ¯ belongs. 484 For a summary, see Table 6.3 on page 470. 485 These are the seals of G¯ rg¯ n and S¯d-h¯ sh, seals 4a and 4b. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 44–45. o o e o 486 Gyselen 2001a, pp. 41, seal 2d/2. The other seal of P¯ ırag-i Shahrvar¯z, seal 2d/1, is almost idena tical with the aforementioned seal and only lacks the gentilitial patronymic Mihr¯n, and therefore a most certainly belongs to the same P¯ just mentioned. Ibid., p. 40. ırag 487 Gyselen 2001a, pp. 18–20.

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§2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

However, the attribution of the seals of P¯ ırag-i Shahrvar¯z to the period of a Khusrow I is problematic. We claim that this P¯ ırag-i Shahrvar¯z is none other a than the famous general Shahrvar¯z of Khusrow II Parv¯ who was one of a ız, the most powerful commanders of Khusrow II’s army in his wars against the Byzantines. In fact, Shahrvar¯z’s subsequent mutiny—aided, as we shall see, a by another dynastic leader488 —would lead to the very collapse of the Sasanian military efforts against the Byzantines, and bring him to brieﬂy usurp kingship during the dynastic havoc of 628–632.489 Of even greater signiﬁcance for our purposes, however, is that we can now assert that the towering ﬁgure of Shahrvar¯z belonged to the Mihr¯n family.490 This leaves us with the seals of the a a Mihr¯nids G¯rg¯n and S¯d-h¯sh, both of whom were appointed as the sp¯ha o o e o a beds of the quarters of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n). Signiﬁcantly, therefore, u a a a the Mihr¯ns continued to hold the sp¯hbed¯ of the quarter of the north, their a a ı traditional homeland, after Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an divided his realm into four ırv¯ quarters and appointed a sp¯hbed over each. a Literary evidence substantiates the tremendous role of the Mihr¯ns in Khusa row I’s administration. Their presence in Khusrow I’s military and civil administration is in fact overwhelming. One of Khusrow I’s viziers, the Mihr¯nid a ¯ Izadgushasp,491 whose fate under Hormozd IV’s reign we shall see shortly,492 is mentioned by Ferdows¯ as one of the highest dignitaries of Khusrow I’s adminı istration. He is identical to Procopius’ Isdigousnas whom, together with his brother Phabrizus (Far¯ ıburz), the Greek historian describes as “both holding most important ofﬁces . . . and at the same time reckoned to be the basest of all Persians, having a great reputation for their cleverness and evil ways.”493 They aided Khusrow I in his plans to capture Dara in Upper Mesopotamia,494 and Lazica (Lazist¯n) in western Georgia.495 In the annals of the Sasanian–Byzantine a negotiations, the favorable reception of ¯ Izadgushasp by the emperor Justinian (527–565) on this occasion is said to have been unprecedented, ¯ Izadgushasp returning to Khusrow I with more than “ten centenaria of gold” as gifts presented Izadgushasp’s brother Far¯ ıburz was also involved by the Byzantine emperor.496 ¯ in Khusrow I’s wars in the west. Having been sent against the Lazi (circa 549– 555), but forced to retreat, he left a certain Mirranes, yet another Mihr¯nid, a
page 143ff below. §2.7.4 and §3.2.3 below. 490 We will substantiate this identiﬁcation further on page 110 below. 491 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 319, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2570. Justi, Ferdinand, Iranisches Namenı ı buch, Marburg, 1895 (Justi 1895), p. 149. 492 See page 119. 493 Procopius 1914, p. 519. 494 The Byzantine fortiﬁed city and trading center of Dara, built in 507 CE , was of tremendous strategic importance, both to the Byzantines and the Sasanians, and especially signiﬁcant in the war between Khusrow I and the Byzantines. See Weiskopf, Michael, ‘Dara’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 671–672, New York, 1991 (Weiskopf 1991). 495 Sebeos 1999, pp. 7, 163. 496 Procopius 1914, p. 527. Also see Justi 1895.
489 See 488 See

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to protect the garrison in the city of Petra in Lazica.497 Khusrow I also resorted to Mermeroes (i.e., Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ 498 when Far¯ a u a ı) ıburz’s attempt resulted in a stalemate in the war against the Lazis.499 Seal of Gołon Mihr¯n a According to Sebeos, another Mihr¯nid, a certain Mihr¯n Mihrewandak, also a a called Gołon Mihr¯n, was sent to the Armenian theater of war in 573–575, a where he advanced into Iberia in the Caucasus but was defeated. He then led an expedition into southern Armenia, where he seized Angł in Bagrewand, probably in 575 CE500 Now as we have seen, among the seals unearthed by Gyselen, one belongs to a certain G¯rg¯n from the Mihr¯n family, the sp¯hbed of the o o a a quarter of the north during one of the Khusrows. There is a strong possibility that this G¯rg¯n of the seals is in fact the Gołon Mihr¯n of Sebeos.501 In her reo o a marks on the names of these ﬁgures, Gyselen notes that the name G¯rg¯n might o o actually be G¯rg¯n.502 If this ﬁgure is in fact G¯rg¯n, and if he is identical with o e o e the Gołon Mihr¯n of Sebeos, then quite likely this sp¯hbed of the north was the a a grandfather of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ What makes this identiﬁcation more proba u ın. able, besides the association of all Mihr¯ns with the quarter of the north and a with Armenia and Azarb¯yj¯n, is that Gołon Mihr¯n is the only other ﬁgure, a a a besides Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ who bears the epithet Mihrewandak in Sebeos’ nara u ın, rative.503 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ also called Mihrewandak, in fact claimed to be the a u ın, great-grandson of Gorg¯n M¯ ad. While Gorg¯n M¯ ad, ancestor of the Mihr¯ns e ıl¯ e ıl¯ a is a legendary, Kay¯nid ﬁgure to whom the Mihr¯ns traced their genealogy,504 a a in the person of G¯rg¯n or G¯rg¯n of the seals we are most probably dealing in o o o e fact with a historical ﬁgure, the grandfather of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ At any rate, a u ın. with such direct involvement of the Mihr¯ns in the Armenian theater of war a in the late sixth century, it is not surprising that Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ is also said a u ın to have been stationed as a marzb¯n of Armenia by some of our sources, as we a shall see. Mihr¯nsit¯d Mihr¯n a a a The continued reliance of Khusrow I’s administration upon the Mihr¯ns went a beyond this. During one of Khusrow I’s eastern wars, when the Kh¯q¯n of the a a Turks sued for peace and offered, as a gesture of friendship, his daughter to the Sasanian king, it was a Mihr¯n, identiﬁed by Ferdows¯ as Mihr¯nsit¯d,505 whom a ı a a

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498 See

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1914, pp. 529–531, 543. §2.4.4. 499 Procopius 1914, pp. 531–551. 500 Sebeos 1999, pp. 7, 10, 163. 501 A sp¯hbed Glon is listed as having taken part in the siege in 502 of Amid during Qub¯d’s reign. ¯ a a Joshua the Stylite 2000, p. 62, n. 297, and p. 68, n. 324. 502 “[P]rovided that it is a case of the -¯- being badly written.” Gyselen 2001a, p. 32, n. 85. e 503 See §2.6.3 and §6.1; for a discussion of the epithet, see page 399. 504 For a more detailed discussion, see page 116ff below. 505 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 178. ı

497 Procopius

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Khusrow I sent to appraise the Kh¯q¯n’s daughter for the king. This daughter a a became the future queen of Iran, and from her union with Khusrow I, Hormozd IV was born. Mihr¯nsit¯d later boasted to Hormozd IV of his signiﬁcant a a role in this union.506 Mihr¯nsit¯d’s son, Nast¯h, was also centrally incorpoa a u rated in the military and administrative state of Khusrow I and took part in the wars in the east.507 The predominant role of the Mihr¯ns in Khusrow I’s administration, therea fore, is beyond any doubt. We know now of at least two Mihr¯ns, G¯rg¯n and a o o S¯d-h¯sh, who assumed the post of sp¯hbed of the north. Whether or not our e o a identiﬁcation of G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n with Gołon Mihr¯n of Sebeos holds, it is exo o a a tremely probable that G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n was the grandfather of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ o o a a u ın. Where exactly in the dynastic line of the Mihr¯ns S¯d-h¯sh should be placed, a e o and what the family tree of the Mihr¯ns at this juncture of history would actua ally look like, requires further research, as does the sequence in which G¯rg¯n o o and S¯d-h¯sh were appointed to the sp¯hbed¯ of the quarter of the north.508 If e o a ı we follow, however, the military career of the Mihr¯ns from Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ Miha a u a ı r¯n—on whose manpower and military prowess Qub¯d relied in his struggle a a against the K¯rinid Sukhr¯509 —to Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ we see that the Mihr¯ns a a a u ın, a continued to muster substantial forces from the reign of Qub¯d to that of Hora mozd IV and Khusrow II at the very least. Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was also able to a u ın gather together a huge army from within his traditional homeland with which he debilitated the forces of Khusrow II Parv¯ 510 Considering that the Mihız. r¯ns continued to be appointed sp¯hbeds of the north even after Khusrow I’s a a reforms, and keeping in mind that the careers of Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ Mihr¯n and Baha u a ı a r¯m-i Ch¯b¯ were at their height precisely before and after the presumed rea u ın forms of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, it stands to reason that the Mihr¯ns never ırv¯ a lost either their control over their traditional homeland or the military force which they could muster from these lands. As we shall see, they continued to function as king makers in subsequent Sasanian history. The Mihr¯ns, however, a were not the only Parthian family upon whom Khusrow I depended during his reign. Once again, we begin our account with the sigillographic evidence that has recently come to light. 2.5.5 The Ispahbudh¯n a

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vol. VIII, pp. 177–179, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2586–2587. See page 124 below. ı page 124. 508 For an identiﬁcation of S¯d-h¯ sh with a legendary Kay¯nid general, see page 116ff below. e o a 509 See §2.4.4. 510 See §2.6.3 below. 511 Gyselen 2001a, p. 42–43, seals 3a, 3b.
507 See

506 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

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Among the seals discovered by Gyselen, two others deserve attention. Both a ea belong to a certain Wistaxm and identify him as “Wistakhm, haz¯rbed . . . ¯r¯nsp¯hbed of the side of the west” and “Wistakhm, haz¯rbed . . . ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of a a ea a the side of the west, blessed.”511 One of these seals, seal 3a, identiﬁes Wistaxm

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as the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of Khusrow; it is not clear which Khusrow, although the ea a seal has been attributed to Khusrow I.512 The other, seal 3b, has Hormozd IV as king. While both seals are thought to identify Wistaxm as the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of ea a the west, however, the reading of one of these seals, seal 3a, as belonging to the quarter of the west (namely, k¯st-i khwar¯r¯n) is conjectural.513 Who was this u aa Wistaxm? To answer this, we must look at another of the Parthian houses.514 Asparapet, the great Parthian and Pahlav aspet In his accounts of Khusrow I’s reign (531–579), Sebeos writes extensively of the part taken by a ﬁgure he calls the great Parthian and Pahlaw aspet, one of “the generals of the Persian king who came one after another to this land of Armenia.”515 The one crucial thing that we have to keep in mind about the gentilitial background of this aspet of Sebeos, therefore, is that he was a Parthian and a Pahlav. At times Sebeos calls this same ﬁgure Asparapet, or sparapet,516 and deals extensively with the fate of his offspring. In Sebeos’ narrative, therefore, we are dealing with a ﬁgure who holds two separate ofﬁces:517 the general of the cavalry (aspet) and the general of the army (asparapet) or sp¯hbed—the titles of a which are given in their Armenian rendition.518 Following Sebeos’ chronology, Thomson assigns the duration of the tenure of this Parthian and Pahlaw aspet, Asparapet (sparapet or sp¯hbed) in Armenia as taking place between 580 and 586, a that is during the reign of Hormozd IV.519 In the accounts of Sebeos, therefore, we are given the identity of a Parthian sp¯hbed who ruled precisely during the a reign of Hormozd IV and who was intimately connected—like all the other
2001a, pp. 18–20. 2001a, pp. 14–15. 514 See also Pourshariati, Parvaneh, ‘Recently Discovered Seals of Wistaxm, Uncle of Khusrow II?’, Studia Iranica 35, (2006), pp. 163–180 (Pourshariati 2006). 515 Sebeos lists a total of ten ﬁgures here. “[T]he great Parthian and Pahlaw aspet” appears ﬁfth in the list. Sebeos 1999, pp. 11, 14, 166 (v). 516 In one instance he refers to him as “the great Asparapet, the Parthian and Pahlaw,” giving us a combination of the terms of identiﬁcation for this personage. Sebeos 1999, p. 14. 517 In Sebeos’ narrative the ofﬁce of sparapet is linked to the Mamikonean house on a hereditary basis. Unlike his usage of the term aspet, however, of the total of four occasions that Sebeos uses the term asparapet, or sparapet, three have a Persian context, and refer to the aforementioned ﬁgure. Sebeos 1999, p. 14, 17, 318. See Pourshariati 2006. 518 As Philip Huyse has noted, the title aspabédes “is not to be confused with [the title] aspip¯des.” ı The latter term comes from Mp. ’sppt/aspbed (general of the cavalry) < OIr. ∗ aspa-pati, and is rendered in Armenian as aspet. The former term, aspabédes, “goes back to Mp. sp’hpt/sp¯hbed (general a of the army) < OIr. ∗ sp¯da-pati, cf., Arm. aspahapet and (a)sparapet: the latter word was borrowed a twice into Armenian, once in Parthian times from Parth. sp’dpty/sp bed > Arm. (a)sparapet and ¯ again in Sasanian times from Mp. sp’hpt/sp¯hbed > Arm. aspahapet.” See Huyse, Philip, ‘Sprachkona takte und Entlehnungen zwischen dem Griechisch / Lateinischen und dem Mitteliranischen’, in A. Luther, U. Hartmann, and M. Schuol (eds.), Grenzüberschreitungen: Formen des Kontakts und Wege des Kulturtransfers zwischen Orient und Okzident im Altertum, vol. 3 of Oriens et Occidens, pp. 197–234, Stuttgart, 2002 (Huyse 2002). For the Armenian ofﬁce of sparapet, see footnote 684 below. I am extremely grateful to Professor Huyse for providing me with this important observation in a personal correspondence. See Pourshariati 2006. 519 See §2.6 for a more detailed account.
513 Gyselen 512 Gyselen

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Parthian dynasts so far examined—with the events in Armenia and the west, and was in fact the Asparapet over Armenia, among other regions. All the literary and contextual evidence suggest that Sebeos’ Asparapet, the Parthian and Pahlaw aspet, is in fact the sp¯hbed of the west, in this case during Hormozd a IV’s reign (under whose control came the troops of Iraq up to the frontier of the Byzantine empire520 ) Sebeos confusing here the title of the ﬁgure with his personal name.521 Now according to Sebeos, this Asparapet was the father of Vind¯yih and u Vist¯hm.522 The daughter of Asparapet had married Hormozd IV, and it was a from this union that Khusrow II was born.523 The Parthian and Pahlaw Asparapet, therefore, was the father-in-law of Hormozd IV, and the grandfather, on the mother’s side, of Khusrow II, making Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm the maternal unu a cles of Khusrow II. Now Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm, as has been long established, u a came from the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family.524 There is very little doubt, therea fore, that Sebeos’ Asparapet, the Parthian and Pahlaw aspet, was the patronymic member of the Ispahbudh¯n family and the ﬁgure who in all probability held a the ofﬁce of the sp¯hbed of the quarter of the west during Hormozd IV’s rule. a Now, as Perikhanian observes, and as Khorenats‘i’s tradition conﬁrms, the Ispahbudh¯n were probably the original holders of the ofﬁce of sp¯hbed, and as a a a result came to use the title of the ofﬁce as their gentilitial name.525 Based on literary evidence, Patkanian, Justi, and Christensen, among others, consider the gentilitial name of Ispahbudh¯n a given, Justi even reconstructing a family a tree for them.526 According to Sebeos, in an episode corroborated by classical Islamic histories, Hormozd IV recalled and killed this senior member of the Ispahbudh¯n family, Asparapet, his father-in-law and the Parthian sp¯hbed of the a a west, in 586, about six years into his reign.527 What we cannot ascertain at the moment is the name of this sp¯hbed of a the west. D¯ ınawar¯ maintains that his name was Sh¯p¯r and that he was the ı a u
1944, p. 370. confusion of the title with the personal name seems to be a common practice in Greek sources as well. Theophylact Simocatta calls this same ﬁgure Aspebedes. Simocatta 1986, iv. 3.5. Once again I owe this observation to a personal correspondence from Philip Huyse. See Huyse 2002. Another Aspebedes appears in Procopius’ narrative as an important general during Qub¯d’s a reign, who is probably the father of Sebeos’ Asparapet, and whose saga we will discuss on page 110ff below. Procopius 1914, pp. 83–84. 522 Sebeos 1999, p. 14. For a detailed assessment of the tremendous role of these ﬁgures in late Sasanian history, see page 127ff. 523 Sebeos 1999, p. 17. See also the genealogical tree on page 471. 524 Shahbazi, Shapur, ‘Best¯m o Bend¯ y’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 181– o .a 182, New York, 1991b (Shahbazi 1991b). 525 Perikhanian 1983, p. 645. 526 As we shall see at the conclusion of this study, we can now add to the family tree that Justi had reconstructed; see page 471. For the Ispahbudh¯n family see, among others, Patkanian 1866, a pp. 128–129; Justi 1895, p. 429; Christensen 1944, p. 104. Lukonin 1983, p. 704, disagrees with this identiﬁcation. 527 “He [i.e., Hormozd IV] killed the great Asparapet, Parthian and Pahlaw, who was descended from the criminal Anak’s offsprings.” Sebeos 1999, p. 14.
521 The 520 Christensen

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son of Khurbund¯d.528 The Nih¯yat omits Sh¯p¯r and calls him Khurbund¯a a a u a dh¯yih, which is probably a combination of the name Khurbund¯d and the u a title j¯dh¯yih.529 Finally, the Sh¯hn¯ma gives his name as Kharr¯d, which is a a u a a a diminutive of Khurrad¯d.530 According to Joshua the Stylite, in 503 CE, during a Qub¯d’s war against the Byzantines, the Persian astabid 531 (the Syriac rendition a of Iranian title sp¯hbed) was called Bawi.532 The order of the genealogical tree a of the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family, therefore, might be Bawi (Boe, Procopius’ a Aspebedes); Sh¯p¯r (Sebeos’ Asparapet); Vist¯hm and Vind¯yih. The names a u a u given by other sources as Khurbund¯d, Khurbund¯d¯yih, and Kharr¯d in lieu a a u a of Sh¯p¯r are merely a combination of the titles khurra, farrokh,533 d¯d,534 and a u a j¯dh¯yih.535 Signiﬁcantly, the title farrokh is also carried by Wistaxm on one a u of his seals.536 This genealogy then is the pedigree of the Ispahbudh¯n family, a who acquired their name by virtue of the fact that traditionally the ofﬁce had remained in their family. It is a genealogy that is extremely signiﬁcant for later Sasanian history, as well as the history of Tabarist¯n.537 a . Seal of Vist¯hm Ispahbudh¯n a a As a general rule, even after Khusrow I’s reforms, the ofﬁces of the sp¯hbed a remained hereditary, certainly within the same Parthian dynastic families.538 This claim is now corroborated above all—and besides other evidence thus far presented—by the seals of G¯rg¯n (of the) Mihr¯n (family) and S¯d-h¯sh (of o o a e o the) Mihr¯n (family), both of whom were sp¯hbeds of the side of the north a a during Khusrow I’s rule. What is of crucial importance is that this general rule also applied to the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family, a family that after the a Sasanians was probably the second most important family in Sasanian history. As Sebeos maintains, the sp¯hbed in Armenia from 580–586 was the father of a
528 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, ı 529 Nihayat

p. 102, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 111. ı 1996, p. 361:
© © © © éu ñ d tu k úæu d Ð e¢) ð F F F © éu ð tu F

and p. 391:

© © d tu îh áu Ð e¢) F F F

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The ofﬁce of j¯dh¯yih was probably a judiciary ofﬁce with possible religious overtones. For a u further elaboration, see page 197. 530 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 42. All also cited in Shahbazi 1991b, p. 180. ı 531 Procopius calls him Aspebedes. Procopius 1914, pp. 83–84. 532 Joshua the Stylite 2000, p. 76. 533 From farr, for which see footnote 222. 534 From the Avestan word d¯t¯, meaning law, right, rule, regulation, the term d¯d “is the most aa a general word for the concept of law in the Iranian religious tradition.” It stands in contrast to d¯desa t¯n, meaning “civil law, justice, judicial decision.” Shaki, Mansour, ‘D¯d’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), a a Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 544–545, New York, 1991 (Shaki 1991). 535 See page 197. 536 As we shall see below, some of the names of other important members of this family are also composed with -farrokh-; see §3.3.1 and the family’s genealogical tree on page 471. 537 For the connection with the Al-i B¯vand of Tabarist¯n, see §4.1.2. ¯ a a . 538 We shall see further examples of this.

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Vist¯hm and Vind¯yih, the Parthian ﬁgure who was also the sp¯hbed of the a u a west, and was recalled and killed by Hormozd IV. The secondary and tertiary sources provide plenty of evidence about the paramount ﬁgure of Vist¯hm, the a uncle of Khusrow II, a ﬁgure who became intimately involved in the Parthian dynastic struggles that, as we shall see, engulfed the Sasanian dynasty precisely during the reigns of Hormozd IV and Khusrow II. Finally we should keep in mind that, as Gyselen remarks, the name Vist¯hm is a “less common name.”539 a Considering all this, and considering the subsequent course of Sasanian history, there is very little doubt that the ﬁgure whom the seals identify as Wistaxm, the sp¯hbed of k¯st-i khwarbar¯n (the quarter of the west) of Hormozd IV,540 a u a is the extremely powerful Parthian dynast Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n family, a a whom Hormozd IV appointed sp¯hbed of the west after murdering his father a Asparapet. The other seal of Vist¯hm, seal 3a, as we have argued elsewhere,541 a most probably belongs to the rule of Khusrow II, not Khusrow I, and to the period when Vist¯hm was appointed sp¯hbed of the east by Khusrow II, as a a a reward for the central role that he played, together with his brother, Vind¯yih, u in bringing Khusrow II Parv¯ to power.542 Shortly after this, Vist¯hm led a ız a rebellion in Khur¯s¯n.543 It is important to observe that according to Sebeos, aa the original land of the family of Asparapet, the Parthian and Pahlaw aspet, was the “region of the Parthians,” which clearly refers, in the context of Sebeos’ narrative, to Khur¯s¯n. In the midst of his rebellion, Sebeos informs us, Visaa t¯hm, the son of Asparapet, moved from the region of G¯ an to “the region of a ıl¯ the Parthians, to the original land of his own principality.”544 When Vist¯hm a was appointed sp¯hbed of the east, therefore, he had ﬁnally assumed power over a the original land of his own principality, the land of Parthava.545 Gyselen, who argues that seal 3a of Wistaxm belongs to the sp¯hbed of a the west as opposed to the east—an identiﬁcation with which, as noted, we disagree—bases part of her reasoning “on the identity of the person who is sp¯hbed of the western side. A person named Wistaxm appears in the literary a tradition as a sp¯hbed of the Saw¯d, a region which was deﬁnitely on the westa a ern side of the Sasanian empire.”546 The literary tradition to which Gyselen refers, unique in its identiﬁcation of Wistaxm as the “sp¯hbed of the Saw¯d who a a
2001a, p. 32. 2001a, p. 43. 541 Pourshariati 2006. 542 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2798, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 136: ı ı
540 Gyselen
© © © © ø d è tk¯ ð d ð è u à eêk F © © © d ð Õæ t» ñu eu ñÓ®u F © © © ø d g » u ø ð tu e¿ à d u F F F © © d ÑîhÃ éu å då à e dk F

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We will discuss this episode in more detail in §2.7.1 below. page 132ff. 544 Sebeos 1999, p. 42. 545 Sebeos 1999, p. 42. 546 Gyselen 2001a, p. 15.
543 See

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had the position of haz¯raft,” is the Akhb¯r al-Tiw¯l of D¯ a a ınawar¯ 547 D¯ ı. ınawar¯ ı, . a therefore, conﬁrms that a sp¯hbed of the west was called Wistaxm. The next a question, therefore, is under which king did this Wistaxm serve? D¯nawar¯’s anachronistic account ı ı Now D¯ ınawar¯ citation appears in the course of his narrative on the end of ı’s Yazdgird I’s reign (399–420), and the accession of his son, Bahr¯m V G¯r (420– a u 438). As in other sources that we examined above, D¯ ınawar¯ points out that ı after the death of Yazdgird I, the nobility of Iran decided that, on account of the injustices committed by this king, none of his offspring should succeed him.548 Among the nobility, D¯ ınawar¯ mentions Wistaxm, the sp¯hbed of Saw¯d who ı a a held the position of haz¯raft.549 Gyselen aptly remarks that “unless we have a here two homonyms, the Wistaxm whose sp¯hbed seal we possess could well be a the same as the one mentioned by D¯ ınawar¯ As for the fact that the Wistaxm ı.” of D¯ ınawar¯ belongs to the ﬁfth century, while the seals of Wistaxm “would ı rather appear to be from the second half of the 6th century,” Gyselen observes correctly that “here we have one of those chronological confusions very common in the historiographical tradition concerning the Sasanian Empire.”550 As she remarks, we are in fact dealing here with a chronological confusion, but, as we shall argue, a confusion that has been caused by D¯ ınawar¯ transference ı’s of events pertaining to Khusrow II’s reign to those occurring in the aftermath of Yazdgird I. The confusion, in other words, does not pertain to the reign of Khusrow I. D¯ ınawar¯ notes that after the death of Yazdgird I, the elite of Iran decided ı that on account of the deceased king’s injustices, none of his offspring ought to be considered ﬁt for rule and therefore opted for a certain Khusrow, “from a side line,” to succeed to the throne. Upon hearing the news, one of Yazdgird I’s sons, Bahr¯m V G¯r, who was exiled to H¯ 551 considering himself the natural a u . ıra, heir to the throne, rebelled against the nobility and their puppet king Khusrow and seized the throne. Now, among Khusrow’s supporters, D¯ ınawar¯ mentions ı Wistaxm, the sp¯hbed of Saw¯d.552 The two protagonists of the dynastic struga a gle in D¯ ınawar¯ account of the aftermath of Yazdgird I’s death were, therefore, ı’s Khusrow, from a side line, and Bahr¯m, the pretender to the throne—the namea sakes of the ﬁgures of the dynastic struggle between Khusrow II and Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ 553 D¯ u ın. ınawar¯ has confused, in other words, the story of the struggle ı between Khusrow II and Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ with the accounts of the struggle a u ın between Khusrow and Bahr¯m V G¯r. Given that other historical narratives, a u
p. 55, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 59. ı p. 55, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 59. See §2.2.3. ı 549 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 55, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 59. ı 550 Gyselen 2001a, p. 22. 551 See page 69. 552 See footnote 549. 553 For Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a u ın’s rebellion, see §2.6.3 and §6.1 below.
548 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, ı 547 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, ı

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including D¯ ınawar¯ speak extensively of a Vist¯hm who actively participated ı’s, a in Sasanian politics during the second half of the sixth century—namely, the uncle of Khusrow II, the Parthian dynast of the Ispahbudh¯n family—little doubt a ought to remain as to the transposition of D¯ ınawar¯ narrative from the time ı’s of Khusrow II to that of Yazdgird I. What strongly corroborates this hypothesis are the seals of P¯ ırag-i Shahrvar¯z of the Mihr¯n family. Among Bist¯m’s (Vist¯hm’s) fellow notables, D¯ a a a ı.a nawar¯ mentions a “F¯ ı ırak, entitled Mihr¯n.” We claim that this F¯ a ırak is none other than “P¯ ırag-i Shahrvar¯z . . . sp¯hbed of the side of the south, [of the] a a Mihr¯n [family].”554 As Gyselen observes, the literary sources always identify a Shahrvar¯z in the same context:555 as a powerful ﬁgure who played a dominant a role in Khusrow II’s long drawn out wars with the Byzantines (603–630) and who ﬁnally mutinied against him.556 Like Wistaxm, therefore, the Parthian Mihr¯nid P¯ a ırag-i Shahrvar¯z is a powerful general of Khusrow II Parv¯ D¯ a ız. ınawar¯ thus identiﬁes in his anachronistic account four ﬁgures from the second ı half of the sixth century: the king Khusrow II Parv¯ the rebel Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ız, a u b¯ and the two Parthian generals Wistaxm and Shahrvar¯z. ın, a The Ispahbudh¯n and the Sasanians a Before we proceed with the identiﬁcation of other seals, which further substantiate the confederacy of other Parthian dynastic families besides the Mihr¯ns a and the Ispahbudh¯n with the Sasanian monarchy after Khusrow I’s reforms, a a few words must be said about the tremendous power of the Ispahbudh¯n family. a The Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family was traditionally closely related to the Sasaa nian kings. At least since the time of Qub¯d—but most probably from early on a in Sasanian history557 —there seems to have been a tradition according to which one of the daughters and/or sisters of the senior branch of the Ispahbudh¯n a family would marry the incumbent Sasanian Prince. Procopius informs us of Qub¯d’s marriage into the Ispahbudh¯n family. In his desire to have Khusrow a a I Nowsh¯ an, rather than any other of his offspring,558 succeed him, Qub¯d ırv¯ a schemed to have Khusrow I “be made the adopted son of the emperor Justinus,”
2d/1 and 2d/2. Contra Gyselen, who, in line with her previous argument, has identiﬁed the seals of P¯ ırag, as belonging to the reign of Khusrow I. Gyselen 2001a, pp. 40–41. 555 Gyselen 2001a, pp. 22–23. 556 See respectively §2.7.4 and §2.7.6 below. 557 As we have seen on page 26, in the tradition given by Moses Khorenats‘i, Koshm, the daughter of the Arsacid king Phraat IV, “married the general of all the Aryans who had been appointed by her father . . . [with the result that her progenies’ name became] Aspahapet Pahlav, taking this name from the principality of her husband.” Khorenats i 1978, p. 166. That the Sasanians could have been following the practice of the Achaemenids and taking wives either among their own family or from those of the six other great noble houses is accepted by Christensen, who cites, besides the mother of Khusrow II (for which see page 132), a son of a sister of Khusrow II, “who carries the name Mihran” as evidence of this practice (see footnote 1137). For this and for further references to the Ispahbudh¯n family see Christensen 1944, pp. 109–110, n. 2 and p. 104, respectively. See also our a discussion in §3.3.1. 558 These were Zames (i.e., J¯m¯sp) (497–499) and Caoses (i.e., Kay¯ s), for whom see §4.1.1. a a u
554 Seals

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thereby enlisting the support of the Byzantines if necessary.559 For Qub¯d, a Procopius maintains, “loved Khusrow I, who was born to him by the sister of Aspebedes, exceedingly.”560 Both of the Khusrows, therefore, had direct Ispahbudh¯n lineage, their fathers Qub¯d and Hormozd IV having married into the a a family. No wonder D¯ ınawar¯ calls the Ispahbudh¯n family the “brothers of the ı a Sasanians and their partners [in rule].”561 Throughout Qub¯d’s reign, the Parthian dynast Aspebedes of the Ispaha budh¯n family was one of the paramount ﬁgures of the king’s court. He ara ranged the peace treaty of 506 with the Byzantines.562 And together with ¯ Mermeroes (Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ 563 and Chanaranges (Adhargulb¯d) of the Kan¯rang¯ a u a ı) a a ı564 y¯n family, a he played a central role in the siege of the important city of Amida, contested between the Byzantines and the Sasanians in late antiquity.565 Like their relationship with other Parthian dynastic families, however, the connection of the Sasanians with the Ispahbudh¯n was also marked by periods of a tremendous belligerency. The nobility’s plot against Khusrow I Early in Khusrow I’s reign, Aspebedes joined a group of other discontented dynasts plotting to bring Qub¯d, a child of Khusrow I’s brother J¯m¯sp (Proa a a copius’ Zames) to power. Having discovered the plot, Khusrow I killed J¯m¯a a sp, together with the rest of his brothers and their offspring as well as “all the Persian notables who had either begun or taken part in any way in the plot against him. Among these was Aspebedes, the brother of Khusrow I’s mother.”566 In fact, the plot that Procopius mentions seems to have been nothing short of yet another Parthian dynastic struggle for the control of the throne of the Sasanians, for it was in vexation over Khusrow I’s “unruly turn of mind” and his strange “fond[ness] of innovation” that Aspebedes had joined other discontented dynasts and strove for dethroning Khusrow I from Sasanian kingship.567 In this plot, Aspebedes was joined by yet another extremely powerful Parthian dynast, the Chanaranges, the Kan¯rang¯ an Adhargulb¯d, who had a ıy¯ ¯ a secretly raised J¯m¯sp’s son Qub¯d at his court in Khur¯s¯n.568 As a result of a a a aa this plot, therefore, Khusrow I killed Aspebedes.
559 According to Procopius, Qub¯d was certain that “the Persians [would] . . . make some attempt to a overthrow his house as soon as he [had] ended his life, . . . [He] was [also] certain that he would not pass on the kingdom to any one of his sons without opposition.” Procopius 1914, pp. 83–84. Emphasis mine. 560 Procopius 1914, pp. 83–84. This Aspebedes is presumably the father (or grandfather) of Sebeos’ Asparapet, where again the title is substituted in the sources for his actual name. 561 D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 111, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1960, p. 102. ı 562 Procopius 1914, p. 77. 563 See §2.4.4. 564 For the Kan¯rang¯ an family, see page 266ff. For the name, see footnote 1545. a ıy¯ 565 Procopius 1914, p. 195. Joshua the Stylite 2000, pp. 60–61, n. 292 especially. For Amida, see footnote 305. 566 Procopius 1914, p. 211. Emphasis added. 567 Procopius 1914, pp. xxiii, 4–10, 211. 568 Procopius 1914, p. 211. For a more detailed account, see page 266ff below.

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Khusrow I was not the only Sasanian king to kill a close relative from the powerful Ispahbudh¯n family. As we have mentioned and will further discuss, a Hormozd IV also killed his father-in-law, the great Asparapet, in the course of his purge of Parthian magnates. Likewise, as we shall see shortly,569 Khusrow II killed his uncles Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n family— u a a the sons of the great Asparapet—to whom he owned his very kingship. The rivalry between the Sasanians and the Ispahbudh¯n family was perhaps the most a contentious of all the relationships of the Sasanians with the Parthian dynastic families, and we shall have occasion to see the tremendous implications of this. Having highlighted the role of the Mihr¯n and the Ispahbudh¯n families in the a a military and civil administration of Khusrow I, we can now turn to the saga of the K¯rins. a 2.5.6 The K¯rins a

According to D¯ ınawar¯ and the Nih¯yat, in the ﬁnal stages of the Mihr¯nid Bahı a a r¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion against Hormozd IV and Khusrow II,570 when he was a u ın’s ﬁnally forced to ﬂee east to Khur¯s¯n, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and his forces were inaa a u ın tercepted by their age old enemies, the K¯rins.571 According to both narratives, a in Q¯mis,572 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was prevented from proceeding further east by u a u ın one K¯rin, the governor of Khur¯s¯n,573 who according to both accounts, was a aa over hundred years old, and therefore sent his son to confront Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a u b¯ 574 In Khur¯s¯n, according to D¯ ın. aa ınawar¯ the K¯rins were in charge of “war ı, a and peace, collecting taxation and the administration” of the region. Q¯mis and u Gurg¯n were also part of the K¯rins’ governorship.575 Both sources assert that a a the K¯rins were appointed the governorship, sp¯hbed¯, of the region by Khusa a ı row I Nowsh¯ an,576 and continued to hold this position during the reign of ırv¯
page 132 below. Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion during this period see §2.6.3 and §6.1 below. a u ın’s 571 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, pp. 94–95, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, pp. 102–103. Nihayat 1996, p. 380. ı 572 The province of Q¯ mis was located to the south of the Caspian Sea, with Rayy and Khur¯u a s¯n forming its western and eastern boundaries respectively. Its main city, also called Q¯mis, and a u known as Hecatompylos (the city of hundred gates) by the classical authors, was one of the ancient capitals of the Arsacids. One of its eastern-most cities was called Bist¯m, a name which might .a hark back to its association with the Ispahbudh¯n Vist¯hm. Also see Bosworth, C.E., ‘K¯mis’, in a a u P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007b (Bosworth 2007b). 573 Nih¯yat obviously exaggerates by maintaining that K¯rin was the governor of Khur¯s¯n up to a a aa the borders of Byzantium. Nihayat 1996, p. 380. 574 In this crucial episode, K¯rin’s son was killed, his army scattered, and K¯rin himself retreated a a u ınawar¯ 1960, p. 94, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 103. ı eventually to Q¯mis. Nihayat 1996, p. 380, D¯ 575 D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, pp. 102–103, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1960, p. 94: ı
570 For
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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES

Hormozd IV.577 In his short term of usurping kingship, even Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın (590–591) had conﬁrmed their rule over the region.578 We recall that during Qub¯d’s rule the power of the K¯rinid Sukhr¯ had a a a reached such heights that the king was forced to solicit the help of the Mihr¯ns a to undermine and defeat him.579 What happened to the K¯rins after this can a be reconstructed with the aid of Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n and the ıy¯ aı a . seals. Although the K¯rins appear in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative in the garb of an a ıy¯ anecdotal story580 that betrays the circulation of popular traditions surrounding them, it is quite remarkable, in fact, that the historicity of the germ of this story can now be substantiated in reference to our sigillographic evidence. According to the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, after his fall from absolutist power, aı a . Sukhr¯ ﬂed to Tabarist¯n with his nine sons.581 We recall that according to a a . Ferdows¯ Sukhr¯ was killed.582 His reappearance in Tabarist¯n in the T¯r¯khı, a a aı . i Tabarist¯n, therefore, must be excused on account of the anecdotal story in a . which it is garbed and which is meant to underline the K¯rins’ appointment a over Tabarist¯n by Khusrow I. When Qub¯d died, however, Khusrow I (531– a a . 579) regretted his father’s treatment of the K¯rins and sought to reincorporate a them into his administration.583 According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative, the ıy¯ K¯rins heard about Khusrow I’s intentions and came with their army clad in a green,584 and aided the king in his war against the Kh¯q¯n of the Turks.585 In a a return for their aid, Khusrow I took measures the effects of which clarify part of the subsequent history of Tabarist¯n586 and Khur¯s¯n. According to Ibn a aa . Isfand¯ ar, Khusrow I gave control of Z¯bulist¯n587 to Zarmihr, the eldest son ıy¯ a a of the late Sukhr¯.588 One K¯rin, apparently a younger son, received parts of a a
p. 94, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 103. Nihayat 1996, p. 380. ı p. 94, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 103. Nihayat 1996, p. 380. ı 579 See §2.4.2 and §2.4.3. 580 See also page 380. 581 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151. Mar ash¯ M¯ Seyyed Zah¯ al-D¯ T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n o R¯y¯n ıy¯ ı, ır ın, a ı a u a . . ır o M¯zandar¯n, 1966, edited by M. Tasbih with an introduction by Muhammad Javad Mashkur a a (Mar ash¯ 1966), p. 6. ı 582 See footnote 400. 583 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 152. Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 6–7. ıy¯ ı 584 For the signiﬁcance of the color green and for the details of this episode, see page 380 below. 585 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151 and 150. Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 7. ıy¯ ı 586 See §4.2 below. 587 For Z¯bulist¯n, in present day eastern Afghanistan, see Bosworth, C.E., ‘Z¯bul, Z¯bulist¯n’, in a a a a a P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007c (Bosworth 2007c). 588 Note that the control of Zarmihr over Z¯bulist¯n might explain the revolt of the K¯rins in a a a the Q¯hist¯n and N¯ ap¯r regions in 654, shortly after the Arab conquest of Khur¯s¯n, for which u a ısh¯ u aa see page 277 below. Ferdows¯ mentions a D¯dburz¯ who was another son of Sukhr¯, as being ı a ın, a in control of Z¯bulist¯n during Bahr¯m V G¯r’s reign. The list of nobles that Ferdows¯ provides, a a a u ı here, however, is most probably affected by the Ctesian method (see footnote 609 below). Ferdows¯ ı 1935, p. 2196. Besides a Burzmihr, Tha ¯lib¯ also mentions a Bahr¯m Adharmah¯n as one of the a ı a ¯ a a ı grandees of Khusrow I’s administration (for more on this ﬁgure, see §2.6.1). Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 638, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 411. a ı
578 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, ı 577 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, ı

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§2.5: K HUSROW I / PARTHIAN FAMILIES C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

Tabarist¯n. For our future purposes, it is important to note that included in this a . region were Vand Om¯ K¯h, Amul, Laf¯r, and Far¯ the latter of which was ıd u ¯ u ım, 589 called K¯h-i K¯rin. Khusrow I followed this K¯rin to Tabarist¯n, sojourned u a a a . for a while in Tamm¯ ısha, and gave parts of other territories to other rulers.590 K¯rin was called the isfahbudh591 or sp¯hbed of Tabarist¯n.592 a a a . Seal of D¯dmihr K¯rin a a The sigillographic evidence corroborates the narratives of D¯ ınawar¯ and the Niı h¯yat: the K¯rins had indeed been installed as the sp¯hbeds of the east, which a a a included not only Khur¯s¯n but also parts of Tabarist¯n, during the reign of aa a . Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an. In his reconstructed family tree of the families ruling ırv¯ in G¯ an and Tabarist¯n, which we will discuss in Chapter 4, the late Ferdinand ıl¯ a . Justi includes a genealogical table for the K¯rins.593 Here he gives Sukhr¯’s sons a a as Zarmihr, whom he dates to 537–558, and K¯rin. Of Zarmihr’s ﬁve sons, one a is given as D¯dmihr, obviously a shortened version of D¯dburzmihr.594 Justi’s a a reconstruction of D¯dmihr’s identity, whom he dates to 558–575 CE,595 is cora roborated by other literary sources besides the one he cites. Among the three ﬁgures whom Ferdows¯ lists as having high positions in Khusrow I’s adminisı tration, ﬁgures who were later murdered by Hormozd IV as a result of this,596 there was one Burzmihr. This Burzmihr is already listed among the sons of Sukhr¯ during Qub¯d’s reign. According to Tha ¯lib¯ when Qub¯d returned a a a ı, a from the campaigns against the Hephthalites with a large army, the elite, the m¯bads, as well as J¯m¯sp597 decided to avert another civil war and accept Quo a a b¯d as king on condition that he would not harm either J¯m¯sp or any of the a a a elite. Qub¯d accepted and appointed Burzmihr, whom Tha ¯lib¯ identiﬁes as a a ı the son of Sukhr¯, as his minister and remunerated him for his services. The a Parthian dynast Burzmihr encouraged Qub¯d to avert taxation on fruits and a grain from the peasantry.598 Motlagh, following Justi, identiﬁes this ﬁgure with the legendary wise vizier Bozorg-Mehr of Khusrow I.599 We can now add that this illustrious ﬁgure of Islamic wisdom literature was in fact a K¯rin; this is a afﬁrmed explicitly by Ferdows¯ 600 Sigillographic evidence further conﬁrms ı. the information provided by D¯ ınawar¯ Nih¯yat, Ferdows¯ and Justi. We now ı, a ı,
Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 152. Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 7. ıy¯ ı Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 152. ıy¯ 591 Isfahbudh is the Arabicized version of the Middle Persian term sp¯hbed or ispahbud. a 592 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151. ıy¯ 593 Justi 1895, p. 430. 594 Justi 1895, p. 75. See also §2.6.2. 595 Justi 1895, p. 75. 596 See the beginning of §2.6. 597 See §4.3.1 below. 598 After a while, however, “Ahr¯ ıman began to inﬂuence Qub¯d and afﬂicted him with Mazdak.” a Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 596–603, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 384–388. a ı a ı 599 Motlagh, Djalal Khaleghi, ‘Bozorgmehr-i Bokhtag¯n’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia a Iranica, New York, 2007a (Motlagh 2007a). 600 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, p. 387. ı
590 Ibn 589 Ibn

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possess seals from the K¯rinid D¯dmihr (D¯dburzmihr, Burzmihr) as the sp¯ha a a a bed of Khur¯s¯n during the rule of Khusrow I. Two seals in fact are in Gyselen’s aa collection, one maintaining D¯dburzmihr as the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the a ea a east,601 and another personal seal of the same ﬁgure.602 There is no doubt that the D¯dburzmihr of the seals is the same ﬁgure as the D¯dmihr of Justi and the a a Burzmihr of Ferdows¯ the two latter names being the shortened versions of the ı, name as it appears on the seals. In both seals, moreover, D¯dburzmihr insists on a his Parthian genealogy by claiming to be a Parthian aspbed. Both seals, furthermore, have the added theophoric dimension of claiming the holder as taking refuge in the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre of Khur¯s¯n, thus once again conﬁrming the loın aa cal dimensions of the agnatic spiritual beliefs.603 There is, therefore, no doubt: the K¯rins were appointed as sp¯hbeds of the side of Khur¯s¯n (k¯st-i khwar¯a a aa u a s¯n) by Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an in the course of the administrative/military a ırv¯ reforms that he implemented when dividing his realm into four quarters. The novelty in Khusrow I’s reforms, was that, in order to establish control over the Parthian dynastic families in their extensive traditional homelands, he apparently assigned some of them to territories outside their ancestral domains, thus engendering further antagonism among the Parthian dynastic families and increasing the maneuverability of the monarchy vis-à-vis these.604 For Khur¯a s¯n, we recall, was the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudh¯n family605 and a a not that of the K¯rins, whose ancestral land seems to have been Nih¯vand.606 a a This then also explains Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s contention that in the course of his reıy¯ forms Khusrow I partitioned the territories,607 for he must have done this to further divide the Parthian dynastic families. This certainly was the case with the Ispahbudh¯n and the K¯rin families. The unfortunate results of this will a a become apparent in one of the most crucial junctures of Sasanian history, the Arab conquest of Khur¯s¯n in the mid-seventh century.608 aa We can now sum up the identiﬁcations proposed thus far as follows. In the course of the reforms that Khusrow I implemented, the Parthian families continued their cooperation with the Sasanian king. The K¯rins were assigned a as the sp¯hbeds of the east (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n), the Ispahbudh¯n as the sp¯hbeds a u aa a a of the west (k¯st-i khwarbar¯n), and the Mihr¯ns as the sp¯hbeds of the quarter u a a a
2001a, seal 1b, p. 36. 2001a, seal A, p. 36. In the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, there is also a silver bowl with the inscription “D¯dburzmihr, son of Farrokh¯n from the G¯ an(?) family, sp¯hbed a a ılsar¯ a of the east;” see Khurshudian 1998, p. 153. How this can be reconciled with our gentilitial analysis requires further study. Another seal that most likely belongs to the same ﬁgure is the seal of a driy¯š¯n ˇ¯dagg¯w ud d¯dvar (j¯dh¯yih, see page 197) with the inscription “D¯dburzmihr, aspbed-i o a ja o a a u a pahlav, [seeking] protection in the Exalted”, depicting two facing winged horses as on the personal seal of D¯dburzmihr. Gyselen 1989, p. 159. a 603 Gyselen 2001a, seals, 1b and A, pp. 36 and 46. For the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre, see page 364 below. ın 604 We will elaborate on this point as we proceed. 605 Sebeos 1999, p. 42. 606 See for instance our discussion on page 243ff below. 607 See also page 295 below. 608 See §3.4.7 below, especially page 271ff.
602 Gyselen 601 Gyselen

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of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n). Therefore, not much seems to have changed u a a a in the dynamics between the Sasanians and the Parthian dynastic families even after the presumed Mazdakite uprising and Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an’s reform. ırv¯ By now, we must have also partially explicated the falsity of the scenarios about the presumed consequences of the Mazdakite uprising: even if there was any such mass uprising, it barely affected the fortunes of the Parthian dynastic families, or, as we shall shortly see, the dynamics of their relationship with the Sasanian monarchy. Kai Khusrow’s army This is corroborated by Ferdows¯ description of Kai Khusrow’s battle against ı’s Afr¯s¯ ab, a classic example of the anachronistic editing that took place during a ıy¯ the reign of the Sasanians, in all likelihood by the Parthian dynastic families. The late Shahbazi labeled this use of anachronism as the Ctesian method.609 According to Shahbazi, in this battle that is said to have taken place around F¯r¯b aa near Dihist¯n in the east, Ferdows¯ gives a detailed description of the battle fora ı mation of Kai Khusrow’s army together with a list of names, most of which “are unfamiliar in Firdaus¯ narrative of Kai Xusrau’s reign.”610 Included in the ı’s army, are, moreover, foreign contingents such as the Yemenite, Roman, Moorish, and Caucasian units whose incorporation in the ranks of the army of the mythic king Kai Khusrow is bewildering. Shahbazi concludes, therefore, that the mention of these units as well as the detailed and careful description of the battle proves not only that Ferdows¯ resorted to a “written record which, necesı sarily, related to the Sasanian army,” but also that the document must have been describing the battle of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an against the Hephthalites.611 ırv¯ What Shahbazi did not highlight,612 however, is that the ranks of Kai Khusrow’s army were populated with the Parthian dynasts thus far discussed. To start with, one Sh¯d¯sh was ﬁghting together with the men of Barda a in Are o r¯n613 and of Ardab¯ in Azarb¯yj¯n. The whole contingent was put under the a ıl a a command of one G¯darz the K¯rin, who led Kai Khusrow’s left ﬂank. It is u a almost certain that this Sh¯d¯sh was none other than S¯d-h¯sh of the Mihr¯n e o e o a family, the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the north form the seals.614 The Mihr¯ns, ea a a
609 The Ctesian method is what we have already alluded to: an anachronistic editing of the text, in this case the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition. According to Shahbazi, “Iranian compilers of a national a a history sometimes used what we may term the Ctesian method of anachronism whereby old history was enriched and its lacunae ﬁlled in by the projection of recent events or their reﬂections into remoter times.” Shahbazi 1990, p. 211. 610 Shahbazi 1990, p. 213. 611 Shahbazi 1990, p. 213. 612 See also the diagram that he provides. 613 Barda a, modern-day Barda, the former capital of Arr¯n (Albania), was called P¯r¯ z¯p¯t in a eo a a Persian and, signiﬁcantly, Partav in Armenian, being its etymology. Dunlop, D.M., ‘Barda a’, in . P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007 (Dunlop 2007). 614 It must be noted signiﬁcantly that, as Gyselen remarks, the name S¯d-h¯ sh is not a common e o name but is extremely rare. Gyselen 2001a, seal 4b, p. 45. As she maintains, “although proper

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with their home base in the quarter of the north, a quarter which included parts of Azarb¯yj¯n, and having a long connection with Armenia, were therefore nata a urally in charge of the contingent of Barda a and Ardab¯ Included in the left ıl. ﬂank was yet another familiar ﬁgure of Khusrow I’s establishment, one Far¯e burz. In all probability, Far¯burz was none other than the Mihr¯nid Phabrizus e a of Procopius, who, together with his brother ¯ Izadgushasp (Procopius’ Isdigousnas) was directly involved in Khusrow I’s wars against the Byzantines.615 One Nast¯h, the son of the Mihr¯nid Mihr¯nsit¯d of Khusrow I’s administration,616 u a a a also participated in this same left ﬂank. Participating in the rear lines was also a certain Gorg¯n M¯ ad who appeared together “with men of Rey.”617 As we e ıl¯ already mentioned, this Gorg¯n M¯ ad was probably the same G¯rg¯n of the e ıl¯ o o seals, called Gołon Mihr¯n in Sebeos.618 In other words, in the ﬁgures of Gorg¯a e n M¯ ad and Sh¯d¯sh we have most probably conﬁrmed the identities of the two ıl¯ e o sp¯hbeds of the northern quarter during the reign of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, a ırv¯ G¯rg¯n and S¯d-h¯sh.619 Besides being the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the north, o o e o ea a S¯d-h¯sh is called on his seals the aspbed (leader of the cavalry) of the empire. e o Appropriately, therefore, in the army formation of Kai Khusrow, Sh¯d¯sh ape o peared in the left wing, under the command of G¯darz the K¯rin. u a We cannot ascertain why the name of this K¯rin is given as G¯darz. There a u are two possibilities. This G¯darz may be one of the nine sons of Sukhr¯, u a some of whose names have been lost in our historical records, or Ferdows¯ can ı be simply following through his Ctesian method, where the real name of the historical K¯rinid ﬁgure, the one who was appointed as the sp¯hbed of the east, a a is supplemented by the name of a mythic ancestor of the house. In the course of restructuring his realm, Khusrow I, we further recall, had given Tabaris. t¯n and Z¯bulist¯n to the sons of the K¯rinid Sukhr¯. An army of Z¯bulist¯n a a a a a a a in fact did appear in Kai Khusrow’s battle formation under the command of one Rustam, who is put in charge of the right wing. In this same right wing were also the “Caucasian mercenaries under G¯v the K¯ren.”620 Two other K¯e a a rins, B¯ ızhan and Rah¯m, also participated in the rear lines.621 There is every a reason to suppose that Tus, the commander of the right ﬂank, who carried the .¯ Imperial banner, is a representation of the Asparapet of Sebeos, the sp¯hbed of a the western quarter, the father of Vist¯hm and Vind¯yih. His authority over a u the armies of Khuzist¯n and Yemen makes sense, as he was the sp¯hbed of the a a

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names with s¯d are known, h¯š is not attested.” Gyselen 2001a, p. 32 and n. 87 and 88. Indeed the e o one example that Justi provides, S¯d-h¯sh, son of G¯darz, belongs to the legendary period. Justi e o u 1895, p. 294. 615 See page 102. 616 See page 103. 617 Shahbazi 1990, p. 213. 618 Gyselen 2001a, p. 44, seal 4a. See our discussion on page 103. 619 Gyselen 2001a, pp. 44–45, seals 4a and 4b respectively. 620 Shahbazi 1990, p. 213. 621 Shahbazi 1990, p. 213.

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west.622 Finally, it is rather certain that in Rustam, who was put in command of the right wing, we are actually dealing with an agnate of the S¯ren family, u whose exploits replicate those of the mythic character Rustam. The identity of so many of these ﬁgures with those contained in our Armenian, Greek, and Persian accounts supports Shahbazi’s assertion as to the use of Ctesian method and the substitution of ﬁgures from the reign of Khusrow I to that of the semi-legendary king Kai Khusrow. Moreover, it not only substantiates the reliability of Ferdows¯ but also the contention of the present study. ı For, even if none of the postulates as to the identity of these ﬁgures with actual historical ﬁgures of Khusrow I’s reign were to be admitted—quite unlikely in view of the overwhelming nature of the evidence—the list of the Mihr¯ns, the a K¯rins, and possibly the Ispahbudh¯n and the S¯rens in Kai Khusrow’s army a a u proves that the superimposition in question in fact replicates not only the rule of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an but also that of all the dynastic ﬁgures participatırv¯ ing in the defense and administration of his realm. Returning to our narrative, however, enables us to identify even more of the ﬁgures appearing on the seals as members of these same Parthian dynastic families.

2.6

Hormozd IV / the Mihr¯ns a

For all the fanfare surrounding Khusrow I’s reforms, the one Sasanian monarch who actually attempted to do away with major Parthian dynastic families in a systematic manner, as we have already brieﬂy mentioned, was Hormozd IV (579–590). His actions, as we shall see, had dire results: they led to the unprecedented rebellions of two Parthian dynasts, the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and a a u ın the Ispahbudh¯n Vist¯hm. According to Tabar¯ Hormozd IV had “benevoa a ı, . lence toward the weak and destitute, but he attacked the power of the nobles, so that they showed themselves hostile and hated him, exactly as he in turn hated them.”623 Both Tabar¯ and Ibn Balkh¯ relate that Hormozd IV removed ı ı . the nobles from his court and killed “13,600 [!] men from the religious classes and from those of good family and noble birth.”624 It is Ferdows¯ however, ı, who actually provides us with substantive information on some of the leading members of the nobility decimated by Hormozd IV. At the beginning of this narrative, Ferdows¯ speciﬁcally informs us that Hormozd IV wanted to do ı away with the elite that had obtained privileged positions in the court of his father Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an and had become immune from harm therein.625 ırv¯

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622 See page 105ff. In this contingent, Ferdows¯ also mentions one Tukh¯r, which is a title rather ı a than a name; see footnote 825. 623 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 295, de Goeje, 988. Emphasis added. ı . 624 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 297, de Goeje, 990. Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 242; D¯ ı ı ınawar¯ 1960, p. 84, D¯ ı ınawar¯ ı . 1967, p. 90. 625 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 319: ı
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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS

Hormozd IV is portrayed as being preoccupied with the welfare of the poor and the peasantry. Signiﬁcantly, he warned those with kingly pretensions (sh¯hvash) a and those in search of treasuries, that they would ﬁnd their demise if they were to pursue accumulation of wealth.626 Immediately afterwards Ferdows¯ proı vides us with concrete information, singling out three dynasts whom Hormozd IV murdered. The identity of these can be compared against our recent sigillographic evidence. The three magnates against whom Hormozd IV’s wrath was especially directed were ¯ Izadgushasp, S¯ ah-i Burz¯ and Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar.627 One by ım¯ ın, a a ¯ one, these high dignitaries of Khusrow I’s administration were done away with by Hormozd IV. We have already become quite familiar with the Mihr¯nid a ¯ Izadgushasp.628 He is identiﬁed by Ferdows¯ as a vizier629 and dab¯r to Khusı ı row I. One of the ﬁrst casualties of Hormozd IV’s wrath was this ¯ Izadgushasp, who, according to a detailed narrative in the Sh¯hn¯ma, was ﬁrst imprisoned a a and then killed by Hormozd IV.630 2.6.1 Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar a a ¯

The fate of two other leading feudal ﬁgures under Hormozd IV’s administration is even more revealing, for here we can actually match the identity of those singled out by Ferdows¯ with the ﬁgures mentioned on the recently discovered ı seals. This identiﬁcation is beyond any doubt at least for one of these ﬁgures,
626 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. VIII, p. 318, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2569: ı
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627 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. VIII, p. 319:
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Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2574–2575: ı

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page 102. D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 84, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 89. ı 630 Bosworth maintains that this ¯ Izadgushasp is the same ﬁgure who later appears among the supporters of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ If Ferdows¯ detailed narrative about the murder of ¯ a u ın. ı’s Izadgushasp is to be trusted—there is no reason why it should not be—and considering that Ferdows¯ in fact, ı, counts a certain ¯ Izadgushasp among the supporters of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın—around the role of whom in Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ army there is likewise a detailed narrative—Bosworth’s identiﬁcation of the a u ın’s two ﬁgures is not warranted. Tabar¯ 1999, p. 299, n. 703. Justi, in fact, appropriately separates the ı . two ﬁgures in this instance. Justi 1895, p. 149, under Yazdw˘nasp, numbers 4 and 5, and p. 429. s
629 Also

628 See

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§2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar. For among Gyselen’s collection, there are two seals that a a ¯ ¯ identify the bearer as Wahr¯m, son of Adurm¯h, seals 2a and 2b. According a a to Gyselen, one belongs to the reign of Khusrow I and the other to that of Hormozd IV.631 Both of these identiﬁcations of Gyselen are correct. There is no doubt that Ferdows¯ ﬁgure Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar632 is the same personage ı’s a a ¯ whose seals have been recently discovered. This Bahr¯m, who is identiﬁed in a both of the seals as the sp¯hbed of the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z) is further identiﬁed a u e o with a number of epithets. For the reign of Khusrow I, he bears the title “chief of . . . and eunuch.”633 For that of Hormozd IV, his epithet is “chief of . . . and eunuch, haz¯ruft of the empire.”634 Following Ferdows¯ narrative, it may a ı’s therefore be supposed that at the inception of Hormozd IV’s reign, Bahr¯m-i a M¯h Adhar was in fact maintained and promoted in his administration. Shortly a ¯ thereafter, under unclear circumstances that seemed to have led to a change of policy under Hormozd IV, this leading ﬁgure of Khusrow I’s administration was done away with.635 The problem with Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar’s identity, a a ¯ however, is that in our present state of knowledge, and unlike the Mihr¯nid a ¯ Izadgushasp, we cannot clearly establish his gentilitial background. If there is any validity to Justi’s claim about the possible Sasanian lineage of this ﬁgure,636 and considering the fact that there might have been a greater participation of the nobility of Pers¯ in the quarter of the south, then Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar ıs a a ¯ was probably a P¯rs¯ This leaves us with the third ﬁgure listed by Ferdows¯ a ıg. ı, that of S¯ ah-i Burz¯ ım¯ ın. 2.6.2 S¯ ah-i Burz¯ K¯rin ım¯ ın a

As we have seen, there are two seals which belong to the sp¯hbeds of the east. a We have already become familiar with one, that of D¯d-Burz-Mihr, the Parthian a aspbed of the K¯rin. He was one of the sons of the K¯rinid Sukhr¯ whom Khusa a a row I had appointed sp¯hbed of the east (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n) and whom Hormozd a u aa IV retained for a while in this capacity.637 The other seal identiﬁes yet another
2001a, pp. 37–38, seals 2a, 2b. vol. VIII, pp. 324–328, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2574–2578. In Tha ¯lib¯ narrative, ı a ı’s ¯ he is called Bahr¯m-i Adharmah¯n and identiﬁed as one of the grandees of Khusrow I’s reign. Tha ¯a a a lib¯ 1900, p. 638, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 411. A great marzb¯n (marzb¯n¯ rabb¯), Adurm¯h¯n, is also ı a ı a a a a ¯ a a mentioned by Johannes from Ephesus as a general of Khusrow I. Khurshudian 1998, p. 71. 633 Gyselen 2001a, p. 37, seal 2a. 634 Gyselen 2001a, p. 38, seal 2b. 635 Justi cites him as being mentioned also by Theophanes. Justi identiﬁes this ﬁgure as the m¯o bad of Hormozd IV’s reign. Under this same entry, however, he cites a seal of this Bahr¯m in a ¯ which he is identiﬁed as “Bahr¯m, son of Aturm¯h, descended from gods.” Here, Justi questions, a a in brackets, whether this is meant to signify that he is a Sasanian. Justi 1895, p. 362, numbers 21 and 22, respectively. Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2578, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 319–320. Clearly, as ı ı the evidence of the seals makes it apparent, Justi’s identiﬁcation of this ﬁgure as a m¯bad is not o warranted. That a seal from him already exists in which he claims descent from gods, however, is revealing, and might indeed point to a close relation between this ﬁgure and the Sasanians. 636 See previous footnote. 637 See page 114ff.
632 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı 631 Gyselen

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2001a, pp. 37–38, seals 1a, 1b. also our discussion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ epithet on page 399. a u ın’s 640 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 638–639, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 411. a ı a ı 641 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2575–2576, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 323–325. ı ı 642 Gyselen 2001a, seal 1b, p. 36 and seal A, p. 46. See our argument on page 114ff. 643 For the details of this see the narrative of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ in §2.6.3 below. a u ın
639 See

638 Gyselen

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sp¯hbed assigned to the east for the reign of Hormozd IV, one Chihr Burz¯ 638 a ın. This latter ﬁgure might be identical with a personage called S¯ ah-i Burz¯ in ım¯ ın the Sh¯hn¯ma. Chihr Burz¯ the literal translation of which is “having the a a ın, face of Burz¯ [ﬁre],” is the exact equivalent of S¯ ah-i Burz¯ where chihr ın ım¯ ın, and s¯m¯h are identical in meaning. Using poetic license, one may postulate, ı a therefore, that Ferdows¯ substituted the name of Chihr Burz¯ with that of S¯ ı ın ım¯h-i Burz¯ for the purposes of rhyme and rhythm, a practice in which the a ın poet regularly indulges.639 In Ferdows¯ narrative, S¯ ah-i Burz¯ is depicted ı’s ım¯ ın as one of the high elite of the reign of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, who together ırv¯ with Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar and ¯ a a ¯ Izadgushasp were among the nobility that were consulted by Khusrow I for choosing a successor. As Ferdows¯ and Tha ¯lib¯ ı a ı’s accounts inform us, Hormozd IV began his onslaught on the Parthian dynastic nobility, partly through the age old mechanism available to the Sasanians: the instigation of one dynastic family against another.640 Ferdows¯ informs us that ı in order to undermine the power of the dynastic factions of his realm, Hormozd IV instigated Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar, the sp¯hbed of the quarter of the south a a ¯ a (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z) during Khusrow I (seal 2a), as well as his own reign (seal 2b), u e o against S¯ ah-i Burz¯ that is, if our identiﬁcation is correct, against Khusım¯ ın, row I’s sp¯hbed Chihr Burz¯ (seal 1a). In a private correspondence between the a ın two powerful ﬁgures of Hormozd IV’s realm, and in response to S¯ ah-i Burım¯ z¯ astonishment at the sudden change of demeanor of Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar ın’s a a ¯ against him, the latter explained that S¯ ah-i Burz¯ himself was to be held ım¯ ın responsible for the turn of events, for he belonged to the faction that had voted for Hormozd IV’s kingship to begin with.641 The dynastic background of S¯ ah-i Burz¯ can only be conjectured. If even ım¯ ın after Khusrow I’s reforms important ofﬁces of the realm, in this case the ofﬁce of sp¯hbed, remained hereditary, and if D¯d-Burz-Mihr, the Parthian aspbed a a (aspbed ¯ pahlaw) and sp¯hbed of the east during Hormozd IV’s reign (seal 1b) ı a is none other than the K¯rinid D¯dmihr,642 then it might be conjectured that a a S¯ ah-i Burz¯ or Chihr Burz¯ the sp¯hbed of the east during Khusrow I’s ım¯ ın ın, a reign, also belonged to the K¯rin family. In fact, the K¯rins continued to maina a tain the sp¯hbed¯ of the east until after Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion.643 As we a ı a u ın’s have argued, the tradition of giving the sp¯hbed¯ of the east to the K¯rins in a ı a fact began with the rule of Khusrow I. When Hormozd IV instigated Bahr¯ma i M¯h Adhar, the sp¯hbed of the quarter of the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z) during a ¯ a u e o his father’s reign, against S¯ ah-i Burz¯ or Chihr Burz¯ the sp¯hbed of the ım¯ ın, ın, a east during Khusrow I’s reign, therefore, he was instigating one leading dynastic agnate, Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar, whose agnatic afﬁliation is not clear, against a a ¯

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§2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

another leading dynastic ﬁgure, who belonged to the house of the K¯rins, S¯ a ım¯h-i Burz¯ Having done so, however, Hormozd IV could not take away the a ın. sp¯hbed¯ of the east from the K¯rin family. For, as we have seen, the sp¯hbed that a ı a a he ended up assigning in the quarter of the east, D¯d-Burz-Mihr (D¯dmihr), the a a Parthian aspbed of seal 1b, was still a K¯rinid. a At any rate, what is signiﬁcant for the purposes of the present discussion is that ultimately both Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar as well as the K¯rinid S¯ ah-i Burz¯ a a ¯ a ım¯ ın 644 were killed by Hormozd IV, and joined the fate of the Mihr¯nid ¯ a Izadgushasp as the leading dynastic ﬁgures of Khusrow I’s reign who were murdered by Hormozd IV.645 But that is not all. All our sources, including Sebeos,646 maintain that the father of Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm, Asparapet, the Parthian aspet of u a the Ispahbudh¯n family, of whom we have heard in detail,647 the father-in-law a of Hormozd IV and the grandfather of Khusrow II, was also murdered during Hormozd IV’s purge of magnates. Such slaughter of leading agnates of Parthian families belonging to different dynastic houses was probably unprecedented in Sasanian history. That this decimation could not have been total and the king nevertheless was forced to continue to rely on the powers of the nobility is evidenced not only by Hormozd IV’s retention of the Ispahbudh¯n Vind¯yih a u and Vist¯hm in his administration and the tremendous power base of these, as a we shall see, but also by the continued reliance of the king on the power of the Mihr¯ns and the K¯rins. The ultimate treatment of these in the hands of a a Hormozd IV and his son, Khusrow II, however, commenced the unprecedented upheavals that led the Parthian dynastic families to question the very legitimacy of the Sasanians for kingship. We are referring here to the revolts of Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ of the Mihr¯n family and that of Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n family. u ın a a a The Parthian confederacy with the Sasanians was for the ﬁrst time violently disrupted through the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın. 2.6.3 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ Mihr¯n a u ın a

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pp. 638–639, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 411–413. a ı p. 2570; see also footnote 627. 646 Sebeos 1999, p. 14. 647 See §2.5.5.
645 Ferdows¯ 1935, ı

644 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, a ı

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Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion was unlike any other in Sasanian history. Except a u ın’s perhaps in Armenia, and not since the last Parthian king, Ardav¯n, was any a Parthian dynast audacious enough to question the very legitimacy of Sasanian kingship. The monarchy might be dominated, directed, abused, and possibly mocked by the Parthian dynastic families. But the tradition had been established: even an infant Sasanian was deemed to be more legitimate for kingship— or so at least the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition would have us believe—than any a a member of the Parthian nobility, at least formally. As far as the Parthian dynastic families were concerned, the name of the game was confederacy. Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ rebellion changed most of this. As with the rise of the Parthians u ın’s from the perspective of the Sasanians, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion was also a u ın’s

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attended by a religious dichotomy,648 that of Parthava versus Pers¯ and a powıs, erful messianic fervor. All the narratives of the rebellion in the literary sources are infused with millennial motifs. We shall deal with the religious dimensions of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion below. For now, however, we concern ourselves a u ın’s only with the sociopolitical dimensions of his rebellion.649 Prognostication of Hormozd IV’s demise According to the narratives at our disposal, some years into his reign, previously prognosticated to be, signiﬁcantly, the messianic number twelve, Hormozd IV found his realm attacked by the Turks from the east, the Byzantines from the west, the Khazars from the northwestern Caspian region, and the Arabs from ¯ the west.650 Signiﬁcantly, it was Bahr¯m-i Adhar-mah¯n (Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar) a a a a ¯ who had informed Hormozd IV that the apocalypse would soon arrive and that Hormozd IV was to be blamed for it on account of his injustice.651 Hormozd IV had become unjust because of the crimes that he had committed against the grandees of his realm, turning against custom and tradition (¯ ¯n o k¯sh).652 For aı ı the ﬁrst time in Sasanian history, Hormozd IV had unleashed an all-out attack against almost every single leading agnate of the Parthian and other dynastic families. Among the measures taken by Hormozd IV was a further reduction of the size of their cavalry, and a decrease in the army’s pay.653 Although Hormozd IV’s policies were in a sense the continuation of reforms inaugurated by Khusrow I, especially his taxation policies, his systematic onslaught on the Parthian dynastic families was of such intensity that in Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion, a u ın’s the theme of Parthian claim to rule was voiced for the ﬁrst time in Sasanian history. While there continued to be dissension in their ranks, and while they ﬁnally lost as a result of it, at the inception of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion, a a u ın’s powerful Parthian alliance was formed. It is for this reason that the theme of Sasanian–Parthian rivalry infuses not only the Persian and Arabic accounts of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ but also that of the western sources that were witness to its a u ın, actual unfolding. As already mentioned, the ﬁrst episode of millennial prognostication is communicated to Hormozd IV by his and his father’s sp¯hbed of the south, a ¯ Bahr¯m-i Adhar Mah¯n (Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar), or, as he appears on the seals, a a a a ¯
§6.1 for the religious connotations of this rebellion, and §5.3.3 for the dichotomy. a synopsis of the state of the ﬁeld on Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion, see Shahbazi, Shapur, a u ın’s ˇ o ın’, ‘Bahr¯m VI C¯b¯ in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007a (Shahbazi a 2007a). 650 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 298–301, de Goeje, 991; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 331–332, Ferdows¯ 1935, ı ı ı . p. 2582–2583. For a synopsis of these histories, see Tabar¯ 1999, nn. 701, 703–705, and the citations ı . given therein. 651 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 327, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2578. ı ı 652 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 319, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2582–2583: ı ı
649 For
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648 See

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653 Shahbazi

2007a, p. 519.

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§2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

¯ Wahr¯m, son of Adurm¯h, the haz¯ruft.654 Recognizing his imminent doom, a a a ¯ Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar decided to make life unbearable thenceforth for the a a Sasanian king, and forecasted the demise of the king in twelve years.655 But the prognostication did not stop here. It was reiterated once more, this time, signiﬁcantly, from the mouth of the Parthian Mihr¯ns. When the enemy ata tacked from all sides, the Mihr¯nid Nast¯h, the son of Mihr¯nsit¯d,656 informed a u a a the king that his father’s knowledge would be of use to the king.657 Hormozd IV then sent for Mihr¯nsit¯d, who had taken up seclusion in Rayy, the tradia a tional home-base of the Mihr¯ns, occupying himself, signiﬁcantly, with Zand a and the Avest¯.658 When Mihr¯nsit¯d was summoned to the king’s court, he a a a ﬁrst narrated for Hormozd IV, presumably out of fear, his own central role in choosing the king’s mother, the daughter of the Turkish Kh¯q¯n, and then ina a formed Hormozd IV that the astrologers who had read the stars for the Kh¯q¯n a a had also forecasted that when the Turks attacked Iran, the savior of Hormozd IV’s throne would be a certain Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ of Pahlav ancestry. Mihr¯a u ın a nsit¯d then advised Hormozd IV to search and summon Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ to a a u ın his court. According to Ferdows¯ having given this prognostication and inı, troduced Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrative, the aged Mihr¯nsit¯d died instantly.659 a u ın’s a a As Ferdows¯ poetic rendition informs us, this prompted Hormozd IV to avail ı’s himself of the services of the Parthian Mihr¯nid dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ who a a u ın, in the course of his military campaigns in the west and the east in fact did help Hormozd IV sustain his kingship.660
2001a, pp. 37–38, seals 2a and 2b, respectively. in prison Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar sent a message to Hormozd IV that he should avail a a ¯ himself of a black box, left for posterity by Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, and that he should read the ırv¯ message contained therein, written on a white silk cloth. The message predicted the onslaught of enemies from the four corners of Iran, the blinding of the king, and his demise in the twelfth year of his kingship. Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 327, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2582–2583. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, ı ı a ı pp. 637–642, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 411–413. a ı 656 See page 103. 657 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 335, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2586–2587. ı ı 658 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 335, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2586–2587. For the signiﬁcance of reading ı ı the Zand, that is, the interpretation of the Avest¯, see §5.2.5. a 659 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 336–337, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2587–2588: ı ı
655 While
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1999, p. 15; Czegledy, K., ‘Bahr¯m Chub¯ and the Persian Apocalyptic Literature’, a ın Acta Orientalia Hungarica 8, (1958), pp. 21–43 (Czegledy 1958); Shahbazi 2007a.

660 Sebeos

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS

Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯n’s western campaigns a u ı Already in 572, at the end of the rule of Khusrow I, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ had a u ın participated in the king’s campaigns against the Byzantines and in the Caucasus, and had been in charge of the cavalry that captured the Byzantine city of Dara.661 According to some of our sources, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ son of Bahr¯m a u ın, a Gushn¯sp, started as a margrave of Rayy.662 This piece of information ﬁts quite a well with the fact that the sp¯hbeds of the north during Khusrow I’s reign were a in fact from the Mihr¯n family. If our theory as to the familial relationship of a Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ with G¯rg¯n663 is correct, then the appointment of Bahr¯m-i a u ın o o a Ch¯b¯ after his grandfather as sp¯hbed of the north further conﬁrms our conu ın a tention that the sp¯hbed¯ of particular quarters was maintained within the same a ı dynastic family. At any rate, D¯ ınawar¯ calls Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ the marzb¯n of ı a u ın a Armenia and Azarb¯yj¯n,664 a military and administrative jurisdiction that in a a fact corresponds to the sp¯hbed¯ of the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n. a ı u a a a The Parthian genealogical claims of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ as well as his provea u ın, nance from the Mihr¯nid capital Rayy, are highlighted by most of our narraa tives.665 In the Sh¯hn¯ma, Rayy, as the capital of the Mihr¯ns, is clearly pitted a a a against Pers¯ Jumping ahead for a moment in our narrative, in the mutual diıs. atribe of the antagonists, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and Khusrow II Parv¯ when they a u ın ız, are confronted in the battle scene near Lake Urumiya in Azarb¯yj¯n, the Sasaa a nian Khusrow II accused the Parthians of Rayy of complicity with Alexander and then of assuming kingship.666 The regional dimension of the rivalry between the house of S¯s¯n and the descendants of Ardav¯n is underlined with aa a Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ threat to relocate majesty from F¯rs to Rayy.667 The theme a u ın’s a of restoring Arsacid glory is in fact central to Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ platform for a u ın’s rebellion.668 In yet another exchange, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ reminded Khusrow II a u ın
661 Simocatta 1986, 3.18.10f., pp. 101–102. For Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ western campaigns, also see a u ın Shahbazi 2007a, p. 519. 662 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2662, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 32; Mas ud¯ 1869, p. 215, Mas ud¯ Al¯ ¯ ı ¯ ı, ı ı ı ¯ ı b. Husayn, Mur¯j al-Dhahab, Tehran, 1968, translation of Mas ud¯ 1869 by Abolqasim Payandih u . ¯ ı (Mas ud¯ 1968); Tabar¯ 1999, p. 301, n. 706, de Goeje, 992; Simocatta 1986, iii. 18.6, p. 101. ı . 663 Gyselen 2001a, seal, 4a, p. 44. See page 103 above. 664 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 79, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 84. ı 665 Czegledy 1958; Shahbazi 2007a. 666 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 30, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2696: ı ı
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667 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

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vol. IX, p. 30:
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§2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

that his Sasanian ancestors had in fact usurped kingship from the Arsacids. After ﬁve hundred years, however, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ claimed, the demise of the a u ın Sasanians was imminent, and kingship must revert to the Arsacids.669 He would not rest, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ claimed, until he destroyed Kay¯nid kingship—a a u ın a clear reference to the Sasanians’ forged claim of being the progenies of the Kay¯a nids.670 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯n’s eastern campaigns a u ı The substantial power of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ at Hormozd IV’s court is estaba u ın lished beyond doubt. Simocatta maintains that once Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ milia u ın’s tary successes increased, for example, he became the darigbedum (dar¯gbed) of ı the royal hearth of Hormozd IV.671 While the precise powers of the dar¯gbed ı are not clear, it is clear that this must have been an extremely important ofﬁce of late the Sasanian period.672 One of the few ﬁgures who carried this title in late Sasanian history, was the towering ﬁgure of Farrukhz¯d,673 whose story we a examine in depth in Chapter 3. In 588, in the aftermath of the Hephthalites’ attack against Iran, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was appointed as the commander-in-chief of a u ın the Sasanian forces and sent against the invading army. This is where our apocalyptic as well as historical narratives begin. Leading a messianic number of 12,000 cavalry to the east,674 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ conquered Balkh and the Hepa u ın hthalite territories in what is now Afghanistan, crossed the Oxus, and killed the Kh¯q¯n of the Turks.675 He ﬁnally advanced to a place called the Copper a a Fortress, R¯y¯ Dizh, near Bukh¯r¯.676 u ın aa
669 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 29, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2695: ı
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For the millennial calculations involved in this reckoning, see Shahbazi et al. 1991, p. vi. page 385ff for an elaboration of this. 671 Simocatta 1986, iii.18.12, p. 102. For the ofﬁce of dar¯gbed, see Gyselen 2002, pp. 113–114; ı Khurshudian 1998, pp. 109–113. 672 Gyselen 2002, pp. 113–114. Khurshudian argues for a parallel with the Byzantine cura palatii, and the substantial growth of importance of this ofﬁce at both courts. Khurshudian 1998, pp. 112– 113. 673 Gyselen 2002, pp. 113–114. Khusrow I’s vizier Bozorg-Mehr (D¯dmihr; see page 114) is also a called a dar¯gbed in Bozorgmehr 1971, Andarz-n¯ma-i Bozorgmehr-i Hak¯m, Isfahan, 1971, translated ı a . ı by F. Abadani (Bozorgmehr 1971); Gyselen 2002, pp. 113–114, citing Shaked, Shaul, ‘Some Legal and Administrative Terms of the Sasanian Period’, in Momentum H. S. Nyberg, vol. 5, pp. 213–225, 1975 (Shaked 1975), here pp. 223–225. 674 Czegledy 1958; see also §6.1.2. 675 This latter ﬁgure is mistakenly rendered as Sh¯wa, S¯va, S¯ba. Shahbazi 2007a, p. 520. a a a 676 Shahbazi 2007a, p. 520. For R¯ y¯ Dizh, see page 406ff. u ın
670 See

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS

Our sources claim that Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ successes in his western677 and a u ın’s eastern campaigns prompted the jealousy of the king, and instigated Hormozd IV to undermine him. In the face of Hormozd IV’s harassment, and prompted by other leading magnates who had gathered against Hormozd IV’s anti-elite policies, therefore, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebelled in the east in 590 CE, collecting a u ın around him a substantial force from the quarters of the east and the north.678 Hormozd IV and the Ispahbudh¯n a The Parthian rebel then set out for the capital of the ungrateful and foolhardy Sasanian king, Hormozd IV. Meanwhile, in the face of the tremendous support gained by the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ another signiﬁcant coup was a a u ın, launched. Partly in revenge for Hormozd IV’s murder of their father, Asparapet, in 586, the Ispahbudh¯n brothers Vist¯hm and Vind¯yih, now spearheaded a a u a palace coup. The Sasanians proved once again to be at the mercy of the Parthians: two Parthian dynastic families came to steer the very fate of the Sasanian kinship. The Ispahbudh¯n brothers reenacted a recurrent chronicle of the house a of S¯s¯n: they blinded, imprisoned, and ﬁnally murdered Hormozd IV, and ataa tempted to enthrone his feeble son Khusrow II Parv¯ 679 So powerless were ız. Khusrow II Parv¯ and his forces against Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ insurrection, that ız a u ın’s under the watchful guard of Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm, he was forced to ﬂee to u a the bosom of the Sasanian’s age-old enemy, the Byzantines, until such time that they could muster an army.680 According to some accounts, one of the options discussed by the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n brothers and Khusrow II was a to take refuge with the Arabs and seek their aid.681 With the Persian crown now vacant, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ seized it when he entered Ctesiphon in 590 CE. a u ın A Parthian dynast had ﬁnally nulliﬁed the contract of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy by declaring himself king. Even among the Parthians, however, this was hard to concede, especially by the Ispahbudh¯n brothers, who considered themselves “brothers [to] the a Sasanians and their partners [in rule].”682 Moreover, with the support of the Byzantine emperor Maurice and the army that had ﬁnally gathered around the Ispahbudh¯n brothers, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ chances and rhetoric had lost their a a u ın’s appeal. A substantial sector of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ constituency therefore dea u ın’s serted him. Under the command of Maurice’s brother, Khusrow II advanced toward Azarb¯yj¯n to rendezvous with the 12,000-strong cavalry of Armenian a a forces under Mušeł Mamikonean, and the 8,000-strong cavalry organized by

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page 125. his way Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ passed via the Mihr¯nid capital Rayy and was joined by many a u ın a veterans from the western front. Shahbazi 2007a, p. 521. 679 The young age of Khusrow II and his lack of manpower is highlighted in Sebeos’ narrative among others: “For he [i.e., Khusrow II Parv¯ was a youth and the strength of his army was weak ız] and modest.” Sebeos 1999, p. 26. 680 Shahbazi 2007a, p. 521, and the sources cited therein. 681 Sebeos 1999, p. 18, but also Nihayat 1996, p. 366. 682 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 102, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 111. See our discussion on page 110. ı
678 On

677 See

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§2.6: H ORMOZD IV / M IHRANS C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm. Sebeos conﬁrms that the Ispahbudh¯n’s base of operau a a tion was now Azarb¯yj¯n, where they rallied “support . . . under the watchful a a eye of John Mystacon, Magister Militum per Armeniam, who was mobilizing troops throughout Armenia.”683 For our future purposes it is important to note that at this point the army of N¯mr¯z, the army of the south, also set out ı u to aid Khusrow II Parv¯ ız. Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯n’s defeat a u ı This predicament of the Sasanian king Khusrow II Parv¯ must be kept in ız mind in any assessment of the military reforms undertaken by his grandfather, Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an: Two generations after the latter was presumed ırv¯ to have established his absolutist kingship, overshadowing even the powers of Sh¯p¯r II, the Sasanian crown could only be salvaged with the aid of the Byzana u tines, the Armenians, and, most importantly, their closest of kin, the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family. It was with the combined power of these armed forces— a itself a reﬂection of the continued dependency of the Sasanians on the military prowess of the Parthian dynastic families—that Khusrow II was ﬁnally able to defeat the by now depleted forces of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ It is symptomatic of a u ın. Sasanian history and the traditional part played by Armenia in this history, that, as Sebeos informs us, at this point Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ even wrote letters a u ın to the Armenian sparapet Mušeł Mamikonean.684 Now, by hereditary right, the Mamikoneans held the ofﬁce of sp¯hbed (sparapet) throughout the fourth a century and even after. They claimed, moreover, Arsacid ancestry.685 It is certain, therefore, that the Parthian Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ had his common ancestry a u ın with the Mamikonean house, as well as their shared heritage vis-à-vis the Sasanians, in mind when in his letter to Mušeł, he wrote: “As for you Armenians
683 Sebeos puts the number of Byzantine forces at 3,000 cavalry and that of the Armenian as 15,000, presumably in both cavalry and infantry. Sebeos 1999, pp. 19–20, 172; Ferdows¯ 1971, ı vol. IX, pp. 98–105, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2676–2677. ı 684 The ofﬁce of sparapet, i.e., Middle Persian sp¯hbed, in Armenia, like most Armenian institutions a replicated the ofﬁce in Sasanian Iran before the reforms of Khusrow I. As Garsoian informs us, the “ofﬁce of sparapet was clearly the most important one after that of the king. [Throughout the fourth century it] was hereditary in the Mamikonean house, which held it by nature, fundamentally, originally . . . Like the other contemporary ofﬁces of this type it belonged to the family as a whole and did not pass in direct line from father to son . . . [T]he hereditary character of the ofﬁce was such that it was not affected by the inability of the holder of the title to perform the duties of his ofﬁce because of his extreme youth . . . The royal [Armenian Arsacid] attempt to interfere in the normal succession and to bestow this ofﬁce on a member of another family was viewed as ﬂagrant abuse naturally ending in tragedy. The evidence . . . makes it amply clear that the power of the Mamikonean sparapets did not depend on the favor of the [Armenian Arsacid] kings whom they outlived.” Buzandaran 1989, pp. 560–561. 685 As Garsoian maintains, “rightly or wrongly the Mamikonean were traditionally considered to have been of royal [i.e., Arsacid] ancestry . . . The family may also have had Persian kinsmen.” After the second Armenian revolt against Iran in 572 CE, the “family’s fortunes began a slow decline, leading to the disappearance of its senior branch in the ninth century.” A “cadet branch [also] survived in Tar¯n, while other members of the family played important roles at the Byzantine o court.” Buzandaran 1989, pp. 385–386.

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1999, p. 20. 1999, p. 173. 688 See, for instance, footnote 806. 689 For Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a u ın’s ﬂight to the east, see Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 314–316, nn. 736 and 740, and ı . the sources cited therein, and Nihayat 1996, p. 380. 690 Shahbazi 2007a, p. 521 and the sources cited there. 691 For its powerful effects on the post-conquest history of Iran, see §6.1 below. 692 See footnote 164. 693 The exact boundaries between the quarter of the north and that of the east are not clear. At
687 Sebeos

686 Sebeos

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who demonstrate an unseasonable loyalty, did not the house of Sasan destroy your land and sovereignty? Why otherwise did your fathers rebel and extricate themselves from their service, ﬁghting up until today for your country?”686 As Howard–Johnston remarks, the extensive territorial and political concessions that Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ promised to the Arsacid Mamikonean house in this leta u ın ter were tantamount to offering the Armenians a “junior partnership in the Sasanian empire (the kingdom of the Aryans),” a Sasanian empire ruled by a Parthian dynastic family, that is.687 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ offer, however, was a u ın’s rejected by the Mamikoneans. It is indicative of the support for Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a u b¯ that it took the combined forces of the Byzantines, the Armenians, and ın the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family to defeat him. The Sasanian crown was thus a saved, thanks to the sagacity of another Parthian dynastic family, the Ispahbudh¯n. For as all our sources agree: as the Ispahbudh¯n brothers later reminded a a the ungrateful Khusrow II Parv¯ had it not been for their protection of his ız, kingship and for the forces that they were able to muster in Azarb¯yj¯n—where a a the family had come to run deep roots, as we shall see also below688 —Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion could very well have marked the end of the Sasanian a u ın’s dynasty. When, in the wake of his defeat, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was forced to ﬂee east, a u ın he ran into yet another Parthian dynastic family, the K¯rins. Even in ﬂight, a Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was able to defeat the K¯rins, after which he proceeded to a u ın a take refuge with the Kh¯q¯n of the Turks.689 As his continued existence was a a a humiliating affront to the Sasanians, however, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was ﬁnally a u ın murdered. Two variant narratives trace the semi-folkloric take on his murder, one of which claims that he was assassinated, through a ruse, by an agent of the Sasanians.690 Here ends, temporarily,691 our account of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın’s saga. The rebellion of the Mihr¯ns against Hormozd IV and subsequently his son a Khusrow II Parv¯ galvanized the northern and northeastern territories of Iran, ız the former of which were the traditional homelands of the dynasty. Much of Khur¯s¯n seemed to have supported the aspirations of the Mihr¯nid rebel, alaa a though, as the example of the K¯rins bears witness, not all Parthians lent him a their support. We recall from the seals that the Mihr¯ns were the sp¯hbeds of a a the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n692 ) throughout the rule of Khusrow I and preu a a a sumably all of that of Hormozd IV. The k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n included not only u a a a parts of G¯ an and Tabarist¯n, but also Azarb¯yj¯n.693 The incorporation of ıl¯ a a a .

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§2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

parts of Azarb¯yj¯n in the quarter of the north explains the confusion in the a a sources for referring to Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ as respectively the marzb¯n of Barda a a u ın a and Ardab¯ 694 or Azarb¯yj¯n.695 The support that Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ received ıl, a a a u ın in the east is also signiﬁcant. According to the Sh¯hn¯ma, when gauging the ena a dorsement of other dynasts prior to his rebellion, a certain Khizrav¯n Khusrow a encouraged Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ to forego rebellion and settle instead in Khur¯s¯n. a u ın aa In Khur¯s¯n, he told Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ he would be able to rule in an indepenaa a u ın, dent manner.696 What is of course signiﬁcant in all of this is the fact that the regions in which the Mihr¯ns and, as we shall see, the Ispahbudh¯n found their staunchest a a support were precisely those regions designated by the term Parthava and Media in the classical sources. Included in this was also Tabarist¯n. The age-old a . antagonism of Parthava against Pers¯ was in full swing in the course of Bahıs r¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion, and it was perhaps this, more than any other single a u ın’s element in Sasanian history, that brought about the demise of the Sasanians in the wake of the Arab conquest.697 As always, the problem, of course, was that the Parthian nobility was never a uniﬁed collectivity. There were not only divisions within the Mihr¯ns, but also between them and the other major Parthian a family at this point in Sasanian history, the Ispahbudh¯n. In Khur¯s¯n, the a aa Mihr¯ns also came into conﬂict with their age old enemies, the K¯rins. Added a a to this was, as we shall see in Chapter 4, the history of Tabarist¯n as a refuge a . for rebellious factions within the house of S¯s¯n. What is signiﬁcant for our aa purposes, therefore, is that all these divisions not only played into the hands of the Sasanians—for a while—but also played themselves out in the northern, northeastern, and northwestern territories of the Sasanian realm, G¯ an and ıl¯ Tabarist¯n, Khur¯s¯n, and Azarb¯yj¯n, respectively. They engulfed, in other a aa a a . words, the quarters of the north and east.698

2.7

Khusrow II Parv¯ / the Ispahbudh¯n ız a

The Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family remained the staunchest supporters of the a Sasanians during Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion. Of this, our sources leave us no a u ın’s doubt. It was not so much that the Ispahbudh¯n were in favor of the legitimist a claims of the Sasanians, having, as we have seen, their own volatile relation
any given time after the reforms, however, it seems that the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n started somewhere u a a a in the environs of Rayy and included parts of Azarb¯yj¯n. a a 694 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 338, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2708. ı ı 695 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 643, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 414; D¯ a ı a ı ınawar¯ 1960, pp. 78–79, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 84. ı 696 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2724: ı
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697 We do not mean to downplay a host of other internal and external forces that affected the demise of the dynasty, only to highlight a crucial pattern in their history. 698 In addition, S¯ an also had a long tradition of independence. ıst¯

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with them. At issue, rather, seems to have been the newly found absolutist claims of the Sasanians under Hormozd IV—and not Khusrow I. The fact that it was a rather junior branch of the Parthians, the Mihr¯ns, that was now claima ing sovereignty was probably also hard to swallow for the Ispahbudh¯n family. a For the antiquity of their claim to Parthian nobility seems to have been much greater than that of the Mihr¯ns, not to mention their close familial relationship a with the Sasanians.699 And thus is connected the saga of the Mihr¯ns to that of a the Ispahbudh¯n family. a 2.7.1 Vist¯hm Ispahbudh¯n a a

Shortly after having saved his crown and secured the throne, Khusrow II turned in fact against his maternal uncles, Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm. The upshot of what u a transpired was the rebellion of the venerable Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n fama a ily. What, however, instigated Khusrow II’s turn of heart? We recall that Vist¯hm was appointed the sp¯hbed of Saw¯d (that is to say, the k¯st-i khwarbar¯n) a a a u a after his father’s murder in 586 by Hormozd IV.700 Sebeos, however, provides us with an invaluable piece of information: the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudh¯n family was not in the west but in the east, that is to say, in the a Pahlav dominions. Twice in the course of his narrative Sebeos informs us that the “regions of the Parthians . . . [were] the original homeland of his [i.e., Vist¯hm’s] own principality . . . under . . . [whose] control [lay] the troops of that a region.”701 This post, Sebeos maintains, had been given to Vist¯hm’s family a in the third century when the Persian king restored to the ancestor of the Ispahbudh¯n family “his original Parthian and Pahlaw [lands], crowned him and a honoured him, and made him second in the kingdom.”702 With such heritage and power at their disposal, it was only natural that the Ispahbudh¯n would not a have acquiesced to being partisan to the schemes of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın. Hormozd IV and Khusrow II were cognizant of their dependence on the Ispahbudh¯n. Prior to Khusrow II’s ﬂight to the Byzantines, when Bahr¯m-i a a Ch¯b¯ was approaching to overtake the capital, Hormozd IV prompted Khusu ın row II to destroy Vist¯hm and Vind¯yih. Khusrow II refused his father’s ada u vise, arguing that, faced with the forces gathered around Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ any a u ın,
page 110ff. page 107ff. 701 Here Sebeos is talking about the inception of Vist¯hm’s rebellion and his attempt to bring the a troops of Khur¯s¯n under his own control. It is clear, however, that as the land was his original aa homeland, he was not going to achieve this through force, but through gathering support in the region. Sebeos 1999, p. 42. Emphasis mine. 702 Sebeos 1999, p. 14. Sebeos claims that the ancestor of the Ispahbudh¯n family was the Parthian a “criminal Anak’s offspring.” Other Armenian sources inform us that Anak was also the father of St. Gregory, the Illuminator. According to Armenian sources, however, Anak was from the S¯ren u family. In no other source, however, do we come across the information that the Ispahbudh¯n were a from the S¯ren family. Chaumont observes, on the other hand, that there is a greater probability u that St. Gregory was from Greek descent rather than from the S¯ren family as the Armenian u sources would have us believe. Chaumont 1991, p. 426. For the Anak family, see Buzandaran 1989, pp. 346–347.
700 See 699 See

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assault on the Ispahbudh¯n family would be tantamount to the end of Sasanian a hegemony (sip¯hast b¯ u fuz¯n az shom¯r).703 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ meanwhile, a a¯ u a a u ın, devised a brilliant plan: he minted coins in the name of Khusrow II Parv¯ ız. Becoming suspicious that Khusrow II was in consort with the rebels, Hormozd IV contemplated his son’s murder.704 It was in fear for his life, therefore, that the young king Khusrow II ﬂed to Azarb¯yj¯n and thence to the Byzantines. a a And it was under these circumstances that the palace mutiny took place. In some traditions the whereabouts of Vist¯hm at this time are not clear. Signifa icantly, according to Sebeos, Vist¯hm had already “stirred up no few wars in a those days on his own account.”705 According to Sebeos, when Hormozd IV had Vind¯yih imprisoned, Vist¯hm had already ﬂed from the king.706 In any u a event it is clear from the sources that the Ispahbudh¯n either directly led the a palace mutiny against Hormozd IV, or were chosen as the leaders of the uprising. Sebeos underlines the Ispahbudh¯n’s claim for leadership of the group: a “[b]ecause the queen, mother of the royal Prince and daughter of the Asparapet who was a noble of the house of the Parthians who had died, [was] sister of Vndoy and of Vstam, and Vndoy himself was a wise and prudent man valiant of heart, they [the nobility at Hormozd IV’s court] planned to release him [i.e., Vind¯yih] and make him their leader and head of their undertaking.”707 By u now we know the rest of the story: Hormozd IV was murdered in the palace coup, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was defeated at the combined hands of the Ispahbuda u ın h¯n, the Armenians, and the Byzantines, and Khusrow II Parv¯ was crowned a ız as new king. Vist¯hm’s rebellion a After taking power, presumably in 590, Khusrow II began rewarding his supporters.708 Above all he remunerated his uncles, the chief architects of his victory: he made Vind¯yih his ﬁrst minister and Vist¯hm his sp¯hbed of the u a a east,709 in the traditional homeland of the family. Yet in a matter of months, Khusrow II is said to have changed course; his excuse: avenging his father’s murder. According to our sources, shortly after assuming the throne, he murdered Vind¯yih. When news reached Vist¯hm, he rebelled in the east. All territories u a
703 Ferdows¯ 1935, ı

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Signiﬁcantly, here, once again, the theme of lack of manpower of the Sasanians against the Parthians is reiterated in the narrative. 704 Nihayat 1996, p. 360. 705 Sebeos 1999, p. 15. 706 Sebeos 1999, pp. 39–40; Nihayat 1996, p. 361. 707 Sebeos 1999, p. 17. 708 Shahbazi 1991b, pp. 180–182; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 136, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2798. ı ı 709 Mas ud¯ 1869, p. 223, Mas ud¯ 1968, p. 270. See also our discussion of his seals on page 107. ¯ ı ¯ ı

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN

previously galvanized in Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion were now overtaken by a u ın’s this prominent Parthian dynast. Much of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ army joined him. a u ın’s A substantial group of the Parthians, therefore, had left, once again, the confederacy. This time, their success was half complete: Under the leadership of Vist¯hm, for seven years at least, the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n and the k¯st-i khwar¯a u a a a u a s¯n ceded from Sasanian territories. The Parthian Vist¯hm began minting coins a a in the territories under his control. We possess coins belonging to the second to seventh years of his reign and minted, signiﬁcantly, at Rayy, on which the Ispahbudh¯n rebel is called P¯ uz Vist¯hm, victorious Vist¯hm. As traditiona ır¯ a a ally coinage reﬂected the regnal years of the king, however, a problem remains with the exact chronology of Vist¯hm’s kingship in the Pahlav domains. A a consensus, nevertheless, reckons this to be circa 590–96 CE. Vahewuni incident The traditional chronology fails to explain, however, how a young and inexperienced Sasanian king, brought to power by the collective forces of the Ispahbudh¯n family, the Armenians, and the Byzantines, could in a single year a become so powerful as to move against the powerful Parthian Ispahbudh¯n a family. Howard–Johnston’s alternative chronology, supported by other sources at our disposal, addresses this. According to him, shortly after defeating Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Khusrow II was faced with the Vahewuni rebellion of 594–595 a u ın, in Armenia.710 Vist¯hm’s rebellion took place shortly after this. Howard– a Johnston, therefore, dates Vist¯hm’s rebellion from 594 to 599–600.711 Indeed, a if the Vahewuni incident is to be solidly dated to 594–595, then we must envision a situation in which the still feeble Khusrow II Parv¯ was forced to deal ız with two major upheavals that engulfed all of his northern territories simultaneously. There is nothing unprecedented in this, as having to face wars on two fronts was a familiar paradigm in both Sasanian and Byzantine history. And indeed this might explain Khusrow II Parv¯ diplomacy: collaborating ız’s with the Byzantines in undermining the Vahewuni insurrection. The idea that Khusrow II was forced to deal with the Vahewuni incident at precisely a time when almost half of his realm had ceded seems, nevertheless, quite unlikely. As Howard–Johnston maintains, it is more likely that Khusrow II dealt with the initial stages of Vist¯hm’s rebellion almost toward the end of the Vahewuni a incident, where either through force or cajoling, he was able to bring a group of Armenian nobles in consort with him.712 This included settling these in Is. fah¯n. According to Howard–Johnston, “incidental remarks [in Sebeos] reveal a
710 For the Vahewuni incident, when a group of Armenian noblemen rebelled against their overlords, the Byzantines and the Sasanians, see Howard–Johnston’s historical commentary in Sebeos 1999, pp. 175–179. See also page 301 below. 711 Sebeos 1999, pp. 179–180. 712 Among those who joined the Persian side, after the combined Sasanian and Byzantine forces had pursued the rebels to the Araxes valley area, were Mamak Mamikonean, Kotit, lord of Amatunik‘, Step‘anos Siwni, and other unnamed. See Howard–Johnston’s historical commentary in Sebeos 1999, p. 177.

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that the troops mobilized in Persarmenia in Spring of 595 and their noble leaders accompanied Khosrov on his campaign against the rebels . . . The campaign should therefore be dated to 595. This points to 594 as the year in which Vstam rebelled and gathered support.”713 Both the Nih¯yat and D¯ a ınawar¯ conﬁrm this ı dating of Vist¯hm’s rebellion, for both put it ten years into Khusrow II’s reign, a in 599/600.714 Citing the Khuzistan Chronicle, Howard–Johnston argues justiﬁably that there was also more than simple vengeance to Khusrow II’s onslaught on his uncles. The Nih¯yat conﬁrms this. The combined accounts also aid us in seta tling the question of chronology. According to Howard–Johnston, after consolidating his rule, Khusrow II faced too much criticism by Vind¯yih—who was u now his prime minister—of his policies.715 This, and not simple vengeance, was in fact the true cause of Khusrow II’s belated epiphany about the culprits of his father’s murder. According to the Nih¯yat, after the revolt of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın, when Khusrow II had established his affairs (lamm¯ istadaffa ’l-amr li kisr¯) and a a his power increased ( azuma sult¯nuhu), the king pondered what his uncles had . .a done to his father. “Bind¯yah was in control of his affairs and he had [all the] u inﬂuence in his kingdom,”716 while Vist¯hm was in control of Khur¯s¯n up to a aa the borders of Rayy. Khusrow II “watched Bind¯yah with a great fury, but he u did not divulge any of it to him.”717 Until ten years passed, according to the Nih¯yat, under this state of affairs, Khusrow II found an auspicious opportua nity.718 The anecdotal story in which the Nih¯yat subsequently garbs Vind¯a u yih’s power itself bespeaks the ease with which the Parthian dynast opined on state matters and Khusrow II’s policies. For an incident in which Khusrow II exhibited his lavish spending provided the opportunity for the supreme minister to proclaim to the king that the “public treasury cannot withstand this kind of squandering.”719 As Nih¯yat’s account makes clear, therefore, the saga a of Khusrow II Parv¯ vis-à-vis his powerful uncles was no different than the ız
713 Sebeos 714 Nihayat

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717 Nihayat

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN

saga of Qub¯d under the K¯rins or that of other Sasanian kings against their a a respective Parthian dynastic family: the Sasanians were at the mercy of their power. According to Sebeos, when Vist¯hm ﬁrst rebelled and stationed himself in a Rayy, Khusrow II set out to ﬁght him. The Nih¯yat, which is the only Arabic a source other than D¯ ınawar¯ providing us with a detailed narrative of Vist¯hm’s ı a rebellion—for in fact the rebellion and secession against Khusrow II Parv¯ are ız absent from all our other Arabic sources as well as the Sh¯hn¯ma720 —incorporates a a a series of correspondences between Khusrow II and Vist¯hm. In these, Visa t¯hm detailed the debt that Khusrow II had incurred toward his family. “Woe a onto you, the companion of the devil (ans¯ka ’l-shayt¯n), didn’t my brother a .a free you . . . and did he not give his life for you . . . when the heavens and the earth had dejected you. Did he not kill your father in order to consolidate your kingdom for you and set up your kingship?”721 According to Sebeos, ¯ contemporaneous with Vist¯hm’s rebellion, the lands “called Amal [i.e., Amul a ˙ in Tabarist¯n], Royean, [i.e., R¯y¯n to the west of Tabarist¯n and] Zr¯chan a u a a e . . and Taparistan [i.e., Tabarist¯n] also rebelled against the Persian king.”722 Visa . t¯hm’s supporters incited him to rebellion using, as did the supporters of Baha r¯m-i Ch¯b¯ his claim to Parthian ancestry, and his privileged position in a u ın, Sasanian history: “You are the son of Khurrbund¯d,723 with an ancestry that a goes back to Bahman the son of Isfand¯ ar. You have been the confederates and ıy¯ brothers of the Sasanians. Why should Khusrow II have precedence over you in kingship?”724 Convinced by their arguments, and with a great army behind him, Vist¯hm thus followed in the footsteps of the pioneering Mihr¯nid rebel a a Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ He derided the Sasanian genealogy and boasted about his a u ın. own, more exalted, pedigree: “Your ancestors,” Vist¯hm told Khusrow II Para v¯ were after all no more than shepherds who usurped kingship from us.725 ız,
720 The Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition remains silent on Vist¯hm’s rebellion: neither Tabar¯ the Sh¯ha a a ı, a . n¯ma, Tha ¯lib¯ nor Ibn Balkh¯ have anything to say about it. This leaves room for thought. The a a ı, ı Xw ad¯y-N¯mag’s rendition of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion might still be used in articulating the a a a u ın’s legitimist claims of the Sasanians against a rebel of the Mihr¯n family. But how was this tradition to a portray one of the most embarrassing episodes of Sasanian history: the secession for at least seven years of the northern regions of the realm, where a Parthian family set up a separate kingdom in what was ostensibly Sasanian domains? 721 Nihayat 1996, p. 293. 722 Howard–Johnston appropriately notes that these rebellions were “surely not spontaneous but engineered by Vstam.” Ibid., p. 181. 723 This is a variant of the name of Vist¯hm’s father, as we have seen on page 106. a 724 D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 111, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1960, p. 102: ı
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§2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

It is symptomatic of the Sasanian predicament at this and future junctures of their history that in order to combat the Parthian Vist¯hm, an Armenian a contingent came to hold a central place in what subsequently transpired.726 The initial battle of Khusrow II against Vist¯hm came to no fruitful conclua sion, Vist¯hm and his army having taken refuge in G¯ an from whence Visa ıl¯ t¯hm “journeyed to the regions of the Parthians, to the original land of his own a principality.”727 Meanwhile the Armenian forces who had been settled in Is. fah¯n728 by Khusrow II also rebelled and set out for G¯ an, where they came a ıl¯ across the Sasanian cadet P¯ uz,729 while others ﬁnally reached Vist¯hm in Khuır¯ a r¯s¯n. With an insurgence in most of the northern parts of his territory, the aa quarters of the north and the east, the regions predominantly under Parthian rule, the Sasanian monarch’s vulnerability was now complete. Khusrow II Parv¯ was forced to turn to the great Armenian dynastic family and its leader ız Smbat Bagratuni.730 Khusrow II gave Smbat the marzpanate of Vrkan, that is Gurg¯n, and dispatched him against his powerful enemy, the Parthian dynast a Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n family.731 Smbat was said to have achieved success a a and much else.732 2.7.2 Smbat Bagratuni

Smbat’s governorship of Gurg¯n a Thomson argues that Sebeos puts Smbat’s term of ofﬁce in Gurg¯n from 596– a 602 CE,733 a date that ﬁts well with the traditional rendering of Vist¯hm’s rea bellion as taking place between 590 and 596, since Smbat was instrumental in ending Vist¯hm’s rebellion. He maintains, however, that this date seems to be a too early because, after having successfully completed his assignments in the east, Smbat was called to the court by Khusrow II in the eighteenth year of the latter’s reign, which brings us to 606–607.734 This, Thomson argues, is another indication that Vist¯hm’s rebellion must be dated to somewhere around a 594/599–600 CE.735 For by this time, Vist¯hm was preparing a second major a expedition against Khusrow II with the help of the K¯sh¯ns, and it is fairly u a
Nih¯yat calls the leader of the Armenian contingent by that of his ofﬁce, al-Nakh¯rj¯n, a a a i.e., naxarar. Nihayat 1996, p. 393. 727 Sebeos 1999, p. 42. 728 See page 133. 729 See §4.3.2. 730 Sebeos 1999, p. 42. For the Bagratuni family, see Buzandaran 1989, pp. 362–363 and the references cited therein. 731 Sebeos 1999, pp. 43–44. 732 According to Sebeos, Smbat also quelled the rebellions in Amul, R¯ y¯n, Zr¯chan, and Tabaris¯ u a e . t¯n “and brought them into subjection to the Persian king. He established prosperity over all the a area of his marzpanate, because that land had been ravaged.” Sebeos 1999, p. 44. 733 Sebeos 1999, p. 44, n. 271. 734 Howard–Johnston has no qualms about the matter: “His [i.e., Smbat’s] appointment as the governor (marzb¯n) of Vrkan (Gurg¯n) . . . , can precisely be dated to 599/600, since his retirement a a after eight years on the post is dated to Khusrov’s 18th regnal year (606/607).” Sebeos 1999, p. 181. 735 Sebeos 1999, p. 48, n. 297.
726 The

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certain that he was killed in 600, at the hands of one of his K¯sh¯n allies.736 u a Gurg¯n, Howard–Johnston correctly observes, “was of crucial strategic impora tance since it was wedged between the Elburz range and Khurasan (the region of the east), which was now actively supporting Vstam.”737 Besides the evidence provided by the Nih¯yat and the arguments presented a by Howard–Johnston, there is a curious numismatic peculiarity that corroborates the dating proposed by him, that is, the end of Vist¯hm’s rebellion after a ten years of Khusrow II’s rule. For, according to Gobl “[a]fter the 11th year of the reign of Khusrow II, and only in this particular year, we ﬁnd the word ‘pd (praise) in the second quadrant of the border of the obverse of the coins issued by the king, although this terminology does not appear on every mint of Khusrow II Parv¯ during this year.” While the precise signiﬁcance of this ız inscription is not clear, according to Gobl,738 such novel innovation in precisely the eleventh year of Khusrow II’s reign, cannot be devoid of meaning: the appearance of this terminology on Khusrow II’s coinage during his eleventh regnal year supports D¯ ınawar¯ and Nih¯yat’s dating of (the end of) Vist¯hm’s ı’s a a rebellion to the tenth year of the king’s reign. Whatever the chronology of Vist¯hm’s rebellion, Sebeos’ narrative leaves no a doubt that Smbat was instrumental in putting an end to it. The joint forces of Vist¯hm, his supporters from G¯ an and Tabarist¯n, and the Armenian nobility a ıl¯ a . that had joined the Ispahbudh¯n’s camp engaged the combined large forces of a Smbat and a ﬁgure that Sebeos calls Shahr Vahrich739 in a village called Khekewand in the Komsh (Q¯mis) area.740 Although the Parthian secessionist Visu t¯hm was killed, his murder did not mark the end of the rebellion of the rea gions where he found his support, according to Howard–Johnston. For after the murder of Vist¯hm, Smbat himself was defeated in Q¯mis by the supporters a u of Vist¯hm in G¯ an, who could bring to the ﬁeld their own Armenian allies.741 a ıl¯ It was only in 601, according to Howard–Johnston, in Smbat’s second expedition against the rebels that he was ﬁnally successful.742 When this news reached
736 Howard–Johnston uses D¯ ınawar¯ to further corroborate his chronology. “For if his [i.e., D¯ ı ınawar¯ chronology of Khosrov’s reign lags one year behind the true reckoning, as does Tabari’s, ı’s] the only date which he gives in his full account of Vstam’s rebellion—Khusrov’s tenth regnal year (598/599+1)—would correspond exactly to the ﬁrst year of Smbat’s governorship (599/600).” It should be noted though that D¯ ınawar¯ attaches this date to the start rather than the end of the ı rebellion (see footnote 714). Sebeos 1999, p. 181. 737 Sebeos 1999, p. 181. 738 Göbl, Robert, ‘Sasanian Coins’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), pp. 322–343, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Göbl 1983), pp. 330–331. 739 It is not clear whether this ﬁgure can be identiﬁed with the Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z, who in the a a next decade also rebelled against the Sasanian king. 740 Sebeos 1999, pp. 44–45. 741 Most likely, the ruler of G¯ an at that time was the Al-i J¯m¯sp P¯ uz, whom we shall discuss ¯ ıl¯ a a ır¯ brieﬂy at the beginning of §4.3.3. 742 According to Howard–Johnston “Sebeos’ account of Vstam’s rebellion is superior to those of the other sources. Whereas the others compress a complex series of events apparently into a single

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Khusrow II, Smbat was greatly exalted in the king’s eyes. Smbat’s governorship of Khur¯s¯n aa It is indicative of the Sasanian monarch’s policies during this period that in the face of the power vacuum in Khur¯s¯n in particular, Khusrow II not only apaa pointed Smbat as the governor of the region,743 but also greatly honored and promoted “him above all the marzb¯ns of his kingdom.”744 It is signiﬁcant that a immediately after Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion (590–591), and Vist¯hm’s sp¯ha u ın’s a a bed¯ of Khur¯s¯n (590–593?) and his rebellion (594–600), Khusrow II was forced ı aa to resort to an Armenian dynast, Smbat, in order to calm the revolutionary fervor in the northern and the northeastern parts of his realm. The precise nature of Smbat’s activities in the region during this period is hard to follow. Whatever their course, it is clear that Smbat and his army were in control. In 606/607, however, Smbat asked Khusrow II for a leave in order to go to Armenia.745 Howard–Johnston’s chronology of the rest of Smbat’s career in Khusrow II’s administration appears quite sound. After his stay in Armenia, Smbat was once again recalled by Khusrow II. Smbat’s date of recall from Armenia and his second dispatch to Khur¯s¯n, can be “inferred from the date later given for his aa death, the twenty-eighth year of Khosrov’s reign (616–617).” Khusrow II’s remuneration of this Armenian nobleman upon his arrival at the court is symptomatic for the Sasanians’ posture vis-à-vis their native Pahlav dynasts. Howard–Johnston summarizes this: “Extraordinary powers were granted to him [i.e., Smbat]: together with the supreme command in the East, he was given delegated authority to appoint marzb¯ns . . . and was granted a simultaneously a probably lucrative civilian ofﬁce in charge of a central ﬁnancial ministry.”746 From 599/600 to 606/607, on one occasion, and 614–616/617 on another, for a total period of almost a decade, therefore, a substantial part of Khur¯s¯n was put under the command of the Armenian dynastic ﬁgure Smbat aa Bagratuni. Extensive powers were also granted to him in the capital of the Sasanian empire by the king. This then is indicative of the predicament in which the Sasanian monarchy had found itself after it was confronted with the rebellions of one Parthian dynastic family after another in the northern and eastern parts of its realm: for a not insigniﬁcant period, under what seems to have been
year (the deaths of Vstam and Vndoy are reported side by side in Khuzistan Chronicle), focusing either on the 595 campaign (Chronique de Seert and D¯ ınawar¯ or 600 (Khuzistan Chronicle), Sebeos ı), provides the crucial dating indications and distinguishes several phases in the rebellion.” Sebeos 1999, p. 182. 743 Once from about 600–607, and the second time from 614–616/617. Sebeos 1999, pp. 183–184. 744 Sebeos 1999, pp. 47–48. This might actually mean that Smbat was appointed the sp¯hbed of the a east, replacing Vist¯hm (see page 107). a 745 There seems to be very little information about Smbat’s stay in Armenia, for unlike other detailed accounts provided by Sebeos about this Bagratuni dynast, part of Sebeos’ text seems to be missing here. According to Howard–Johnston, Sebeos seems to have availed himself of a lost encomiastic biography of Bagratuni, from which information about Smbat’s stay in Armenia was perhaps lost in the excerption process. Sebeos 1999, pp. 178–79 and 184, respectively. 746 Sebeos 1999, pp. 44–45, 181. Emphasis added.

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extraordinary circumstances, the Sasanian king was forced to exert his power in Khur¯s¯n through the agency of neighboring Armenian nobility! aa The only information we have on Smbat Bagratuni’s governorship in Khur¯s¯n during the second half of his tenure in the east in 614–616/617, are the deaa tailed accounts given by Sebeos of two military expeditions that he undertook in Khur¯s¯n. According to Howard–Johnston, the ﬁrst of these took place aa when a K¯sh¯n army invaded the region.747 In Q¯mis,748 Smbat summoned u a u about 2,000 Armenian cavalry from Gurg¯n,749 which he had stationed there a during his ﬁrst stay in the region in 606/607. At this initial encounter, Smbat’s forces defeated the K¯sh¯ns, withdrew “and camped at Apr Shahr [i.e., N¯ au a ısh¯ p¯r], in the province of Tus; and with 300 men took up quarters in the walled u village called Khrokht.” At this point the K¯sh¯ns asked for Turkish aid, and u a a great force of 300,000 [!] answered the call and crossed the Oxus (Veh˙ot). r A raiding party besieged the walled village, “for the village had a strong wall encircling it.” Smbat managed to ﬂee from the debacle with three of his followers, leaving the village to be defended by the commander (hrmanatar) “of their force750 [who] was a certain Persian Prince named Datoyean, [appointed] by royal command.” Needless to say, Smbat and Datoyean’s forces were defeated by the Turks. The Turkish army then moved westwards and got “as far as the borders of Reyy and of the province of Ispahan,” and after plundering the region, returned to its camp.751 An inspector from the court, a certain Shahrapan Bandakan, was then sent to Smbat and Datoyean. It is, once again, indicative of Khusrow II’s policies that Smbat was exonerated, but Shahrapan Bandakan was taken to court and executed.752 In Khusrow II’s second campaign, which, according to Howard–Johnston, took place a year later,753 Smbat reorganized his army and attacked “the nation of Kushans and the Hephthalite king.”754 Smbat’s forces defeated the enemy and followed them on their heels to their capital Balkh. Her¯t, all of Tukharistan, and T¯liq¯n were plundered before Smbat a .a a returned and, with much booty, settled in Marv.755 At the news of Smbat’s victory “king Khosrov was happy and greatly rejoiced. Once again the king summoned the Armenian nobleman of Parthian descent . . . to the court. He ordered his son to be promoted and be called Javitean Khosrov. Smbat himself
1999, p. 50. is signiﬁcant in this context to recall that one of the residences of the Arsacids was in Q¯mis. u Marquart 1931, p. 12, no. 18. 749 Sebeos 1999, p. 50. 750 According to Thomson this ﬁgure was the commander of the relief force, not the commander of the 300. Sebeos 1999, p. 51, n. 320. 751 Sebeos 1999, p. 51. 752 Sebeos 1999, p. 51–52. 753 For the reasons why the Sasanians were able to engage the enemy on two fronts at this point, being heavily engaged in the west (see §2.7.3 below) conquering, for example, Jerusalem in 614, while Smbat was dealing with the Turks in the east, as well as for an explanation of the appearance of the K¯sh¯ns in the east, see Sebeos 1999, pp. 184–188. u a 754 Sebeos 1999, p. 52. 755 Sebeos 1999, p. 53.
748 It 747 Sebeos

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got two honoriﬁc titles of Armenian tanut¯r, and Persian Khusrov-Shum [i.e., e Khusrow Shen¯m], and the investiture and insignia of ﬁve sorts.”756 Treasures u were distributed to his followers. Smbat then became “the third nobleman in the palace of king Khusrov and after remaining [there] a short time . . . die[d] in the 28th year of his [i.e., Khusrow II’s] reign,” in 616/7 CE.757 Clearly, Smbat’s services to Khusrow II Parv¯ were thought to have been so tremendous ız by the Sasanian king that he deemed it justiﬁable to shower him with honors hitherto bestowed only on the Iranian Parthian dynastic families. This then brings to an end the second most important episode of the breakdown of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy. 2.7.3 The last great war of antiquity

From 603–630, Khusrow II Parv¯ engulfed Iran in one of the most devastating ız and long periods of warfare against its traditional enemy, the Byzantine Empire. In human and material terms, the costs of the war, which perhaps precipitated the onslaught of the horriﬁc bubonic plague in the course of it, was staggering for the world of late antiquity. While Khusrow II was ﬁlling the coffers of his treasury with fantastic treasures all the while, and while in terms of territorial gains, at the height of Khusrow II’s victories, the monarch could boast of extending his boundaries to that which existed at the height of the Achaemenid empire, the Sasanian empire was engaged in an ultimately disastrous feat. It arguably suffered the most. That Khusrow II lost his crown in 628 through the familiar and paradigmatic mechanism of the joint forces of Parthian dynastic families unleashing their power against an exhausted monarchy paled in comparison to what was to come. The causes, courses, and effects of the last war of antiquity between a Sasanian monarchy that was soon no longer to be and a Byzantine empire that was soon to be truncated beyond recognition have been discussed in great detail in a corpus of erudite literature and are beyond the scope of the present study. What happened in the course of the war in terms of the balance of power within the Sasanian Empire between the monarchy and the Parthian dynastic families, however, is of central concern to us. We shall therefore turn our attention to the ﬁnal chapter of this conﬂictual relationship. First phase (603–610) In order to provide a context for the issues under consideration, a very brief outline of the course of the last great war of antiquity between the Byzantines and the Sasanians is in order. Three clear phases of the wars of 603–628 can be discerned.758 The theaters of war in its ﬁrst phase from 603 to 610 were Mesopotamia and the Caucasus. The fall of the strategically important city of
1999, p. 183. Emphasis added. 1999, p. 54. 758 The following outline is based on James Howard–Johnston’s account in Sebeos 1999, pp. xxii– xxv, 197–221, who reconstructs a detailed course of events as a commentary to Sebeos’ text in Part I, pp. 54–84.
757 Sebeos 756 Sebeos

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Dara in 604 to the Sasanians and the opening of Armenia as a diversionary front of the war were probably two of the most important aspects of this phase, besides the fact that Khusrow II seems to have taken, initially at least, personal charge of directing the Mesopotamian war front. An important Sasanian general, Sh¯h¯ a ın—whom Nöldeke believes to have belonged to one of the seven great Parthian dynastic families, but whose pedigree we cannot establish with any degree of certainty759 —appeared on the western Armenian front, “before making a forward thrust into Cappadocia” and capturing Caesaria at the beginning of the second phase of the war, 610–621. Second phase (610–621) In this phase, the Persians overran northern Syria, thrust deep into Anatolia (611), reached the Bosphurus (615), pushed through southern Syria, and ﬁnally conquered Egypt (619–621). The conquests of Damascus (613), Jerusalem (614), and Egypt were, for both sides, the emotive hallmarks of this second phase. The direction of the wars in this phase were under the command of two of the foremost generals of the Sasanian armies, the aforementioned general Sh¯h¯ a ın and the towering ﬁgure of Shahrvar¯z. Important aspects of their role in these a wars remain unclear, however. Whether or not it was Shahrvar¯z or Sh¯h¯ a a ın who should be credited with the conquest of Egypt, for example, is one of these. The Sasanians were so successful during these ﬁrst two phases that by 615 they had reached Chalcedon,760 across the Sea of Marmara from Constantinople. It was at this point that, according to Sebeos, the emperor Heraclius had agreed to stand down, allow the Roman empire to become a Persian client state, and even allow Khusrow II to choose the emperor. Heraclius would become a “son rather than a brother of the Sasanian king.”761 But in the late 620s, the Sasanians suffered “one of the most astonishing reversals of fortune in the annals of war.”762 As Kaegi and Cobb have argued, a catalyst in this last phase of the war was the mutiny of the general Shahrvar¯z. The aggregate of evidence here seems a to corroborate Kaegi and Cobb’s argument that the relationship of Khusrow II and his foremost general turned sour “probably late in the year 626 or early in 627.”763 But who was this Shahrvar¯z whose role in the last eventful years of a Sasanian history was so paramount? Besides the name through which he has come to be known to posterity, Shahrvar¯z is said to have carried at least two a other names, a situation which has created substantial confusion in the study of the course of the Persian war efforts in Byzantine territory and the internal
1879, p. 291, n. 2, p. 439, n. 3, Nöldeke 1979, p. 483, n. 44, p. 661 and p. 681, n. 12. footnote 6. 761 Sebeos 1999, p. 211. 762 Sebeos 1999, p. xxiv. Emphasis added. 763 Cobb, Paul M. and Kaegi, Walter E., ‘Heraclius, Shahrbar¯z and Tabar¯ in Hugh Kennedy a ı’, . (ed.), Al-Tabar¯: A Medieval Muslim Historian and His Work, pp. 121–143, Princeton, 2002 (Cobb ı . and Kaegi 2002).
760 See 759 Nöldeke

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conditions that led to Khusrow II’s deposition.764 To this confusion, we will get shortly,765 but for now, we recall that throughout this period, when he was preoccupied with the events in the west, Khusrow II had put the east under the command of Smbat Bagratuni. 2.7.4 Shahrvar¯z Mihr¯n a a

In the accounts of the eventful years that led to the Byzantine victory over Khusrow II, the role of one of the foremost generals of Khusrow II, a certain Shahrvar¯z, looms large. What is clear from the complicated course of events a is that Shahrvar¯z rebelled and mutinied, probably late in 626 or early in 627, a and formed an alliance with the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. As Kaegi and Cobb observe, Shahrvar¯z’s mutiny is “critical for understanding Heraclius’ vica tory over Chosroes II, the disintegration of Persian authority in the region, as well as the historical background to the Persian evacuation of Byzantine territory, and, in general, conditions on the eve of the Islamic conquest.”766 What is of crucial concern for us here is the identity of this famous general of the Sasanian realm and the context of his mutiny. The timing of the outbreak of hostilities between Shahrvar¯z and Khusrow II Parv¯ is also of crucial importance. The issue is not a ız a moot one. For if, as Kaegi and Paul have argued, the mutiny of Khusrow II’s armed forces under Shahrvar¯z was crucial in undermining the Sasanian power a and the Byzantine victory over them, then, at the very least, it highlights the continued dependency of Khusrow II’s military power, in whatever reformed form, on the generals that steered his war effort. The gentilitial background of Shahrvar¯z can now be reconstructed through sigillographic evidence, which a in turn has tremendous ramiﬁcations for understanding the last crucial years of Khusrow II Parv¯ reign. As we have seen,767 the seals establish that the ız’s enigmatic ﬁgure of Shahrvar¯z was (1) the sp¯hbed of the south, and (2) a Miha a r¯nid.768 This brings us to a second important concern, closely tied in with the a ﬁrst: Shahrvar¯z was most probably not alone in reaching an agreement with a
764 Kaegi and Cobb’s investigation does not aim at deciphering the problem that we will be investigating. It should be pointed out, however, that one of their important conclusions, namely the fact that it was Shahrvar¯z who should be credited with the conquest of Egypt, is corroborated by a the F¯rsn¯ma: “Shahrvar¯z went to Jerusalem and then to Egypt and Alexandria and conquered a a a ı these.” Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 253–254. 765 See page 143ff below. 766 For the latest investigation into this, see the important article Cobb and Kaegi 2002, p. 123. Emphasis added. I would like to thank Professors Walter Kaegi and Paul Cobb for providing me with a copy of their forthcoming work. I would especially like to thank Paul Cobb for sending the article to me. 767 See §2.5.4. 768 Gyselen 2001a, seal 2d/2, p. 41. It is remarkable that according to Gyselen, the gentilitial name of Mihr¯n is clearly added to the seal at a later date for we do possess one bulla (impression) a “which was made by the seal under its ﬁrst form (seal 2d/1) and several made by the same seal under its second form (seal 2d/2), where the word -mtr’n- (Mihr¯n) has been added to the end of a the inscription on a third line, just below the word sp¯hbed, which addition might in fact be a sign a of the growing independence of Shahrvar¯z.” Gyselen 2001a, p. 11. Emphasis mine. a

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the Byzantines. The activities of another important dynastic power in Iran was also crucial in explaining the turn of events. Before we proceed, we ought to recall that in D¯ ınawar¯ anachronistic account,769 Shahrvar¯z is listed together ı’s a with Vist¯hm from the Ispahbudh¯n family. a a Two ﬁgures in one: Shahrvar¯z and Farrukh¯n a a Shahrvar¯z’s name has been rendered in a number of forms in our sources.770 a This, however, is not so much of a problem as the epithets through which the general has come to be known. For an outline of these it is best to follow the accounts of Tabar¯ and compare these with other narratives at our disposal. ı . According to Tabar¯ at the inception of the mutiny that led to the deposition ı, . and murder of the Byzantine emperor Maurice (582–602) and the accession of Phocas (602–610), Khusrow II decided to wage war against the Byzantines on behalf of Maurice’s son, who had taken refugee with him. To this effect he set out three armies under the command of three separate ﬁgures. One of these commanders of Khusrow II, Tabar¯ informs us, was called Rumiy¯z¯n, and was ı u a . sent to Syria and Palestine; a second general, our aforementioned Sh¯h¯ who a ın, according to Tabar¯ “was the f¯dh¯sb¯n (p¯dh¯sp¯n) of the west,” proceeded to ı a u a a u a . capture “Egypt and Alexandria and the land of Nubia.” The third general appointed to the war front was a certain Farruh¯n, or Farrukh¯n. Here starts the a a confusion. For according to Tabar¯ and some other sources, this Farruh¯n “had ı a . the rank of Shahrbar¯z” and carried the expedition against Constantinople.771 a Of the three commanders named by Tabar¯ the identity of one, Sh¯h¯ does ı a ın, . not seem to be in dispute.772 The precise identities of the other two, however, remain unclear, so much so that it is not certain whether or not we are in fact dealing with two ﬁgures here. In part, the remark that Nöldeke made more than a century ago about the confusion surrounding these names still stands in the scholarship on the subject.773 It has been maintained, for example, that the ﬁgure of Rumiy¯z¯n might in fact be identical with that of Shahrvar¯z, for u a a there is little doubt that it was the latter who captured Jerusalem in 614 CE.774
page 109ff. a list of these, see Justi 1895, pp. 277–278. 771 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 318–319, de Goeje, 1002. ı . 772 As some sources, including Tabar¯ called Sh¯h¯ one of the p¯dh¯sp¯ns of Khusrow II, Nöldeke ı, a ın a u a . argued that Sh¯h¯ therefore, was one of the four satraps, that is to say, sp¯hbeds, of Khusrow II a ın, a Parv¯ Now the Chronicon Paschale calls Sh¯h¯ the “famous Babaman Z¯dig¯n.” This Babaman ız. a ın a a Z¯dig¯n, argues Nöldeke, is presumably nothing but a scribal error for Vah¯man Z¯dag, that is a a a u a descendent of Bahman. This ﬁgure, therefore, argues Nöldeke, is from the progeny of Bahman, the son of Isfand¯ ar. Nöldeke 1879, p. 291, n. 2, p. 439, n. 3, Nöldeke 1979, p. 483, n. 44, p. 661 and ıy¯ p. 681, n. 12. 773 “In general one cannot decipher the truth, through the names that the Greeks, the Armenians, the Syrians, and the Arabs have given to the[se] Iranian generals, unless an expert Armenionologist corrects these names on the basis of the Armenian sources.” Nöldeke 1879, pp. 290–291, n. 3, Nöldeke 1979, p. 482, n. 42. 774 Bosworth seems to maintain the identity of Rumiy¯ z¯n with Shahrbar¯z and Farrukh¯n. u a a a Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 318–319, nn. 745 and 749, de Goeje, 1002. ı .
770 For 769 See

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775 Nöldeke seems to have remained undecided: once he argued that the identity of Rumiy¯ z¯n u a with Khurrah¯n, or Farrukh¯n, “which is the name of Shahrbar¯z,” is probably correct, and once a a a that “it seems inconceivable to suppose that Shahrvar¯z’s name was Farrukh¯n or Khurrah¯n.” a a a Nöldeke 1879, pp. 290–291, n. 3, p. 292, n. 2, Nöldeke 1979, p. 482, n. 42, and p. 484, n. 46. 776 Zuhr¯ b. Abd al-Hakam, Kit¯b Fut¯h Misr wa Akhb¯rih¯, New Haven, 1922, edited by C. Torı, a u. . a a . rey (Zuhr¯ 1922), pp. 35–37, cited in Cobb and Kaegi 2002, pp. 138–141. ı 777 Zuhr¯ 1922, as cited in Cobb and Kaegi 2002, p. 139. ı

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Nöldeke’s suspicions about the identity of Shahrvar¯z and Farrukh¯n, as we a a shall presently see, are in fact valid, although he himself did not offer an explanation for it.775 Thus far, to the author’s knowledge, no detailed investigation of the topic seems to have been made. In the identiﬁcation of Shahrvar¯z with Farrukh¯n, two powerful ﬁgures a a have been in fact superimposed onto each other. It is apt to begin with a narrative that highlights this superimposition. In the course of their investigation of the circumstances that led to Shahrvar¯z’s rapprochement with Heraclius and a his eventual mutiny against Khusrow II, Kaegi and Cobb highlight the importance of the narrative contained in Zuhr¯ Kit¯b Fut¯h Misr wa Akhb¯rih¯,776 ı’s a u. a a . which, in conjunction with Tabar¯ narrative, can be used for reconstructing ı’s . the course of events. Here Zuhr¯ gives us a narrative “concerning the cause of ı the Persian withdrawal from [Byzantium].” When Shahrvar¯z’s stay in Syria a was prolonged, Khusrow II reprimanded him. Frustrated with Shahrvar¯z’s a actions, Khusrow II then wrote letters to “the greatest of the Persian lords,” ordering him to kill Shahrvar¯z, take charge of the Persian armies, and return a to the capital. This Persian lord, who is not named in Zuhr¯ narrative, tried ı’s to persuade Khusrow II, in a series of three correspondences, against his decision, at which point Khusrow II became so aggravated that he now wrote a letter to Shahrvar¯z ordering him to kill the Persian lord. When Shahrvaa r¯z, reluctantly, set about executing Khusrow II’s command by informing the a “greatest of the Persian lords” of the king’s orders, the lord produced the letters that Khusrow II had initially sent to him. At his submission of the ﬁrst letter to Shahrvar¯z, the latter proclaimed to the Persian lord: “You are better than a I.” When the lord produced the second letter, Shahrvar¯z “descended from his a throne and” asked the Persian lord to “[b]e seated upon it.” Refusing the offer, the Persian lord then produced the third letter, at which point Shahrvar¯z dea clared: “I swear by God to do evil to Chosroes! And he made up his mind to betray Chosroes.”777 While the use of letters as a topos in Islamic historiography must be acknowledged and while the anecdotal nature of the letters under consideration speaks for itself, not every letter in the tradition can be dismissed as mere topos. There is no reason to doubt the fact that throughout the war preparations, Khusrow II must have kept in touch with his generals in the ﬁeld. In fact, it is unrealistic to presume that some form of correspondence did not take place between the center, which had precipitated the war, and the armies in charge of directing the war efforts. In Tabar¯ rendition of the same account, for example, Khusrow II ı’s .

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p. 328 and n. 774, also n. 147, de Goeje, 1008. . p. 328, de Goeje, 1008. The information that the two ﬁgures were brothers is, as . we shall see, apocryphal. 780 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 327–328, de Goeje, 1008. See also footnote 1141, putting this story in a ı . different light.
779 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

778 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

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availed himself of the services of the bar¯d (courier service), an institution the ı crucial function of which was probably all the more obvious during times of crisis.778 While the precise content of the letters as produced by Zuhr¯ is not ı altogether trustworthy, there is every reason to assume that their general tenor is valid. For one thing, Zuhr¯ narrative highlights the close connection, or even the ı’s participation of a second ﬁgure, the Persian lord, in Shahrvar¯z’s campaigns. a The existence of this second ﬁgure in close association with Shahrvar¯z is cona ﬁrmed through other sources. Whereas in Zuhr¯ narrative the identity of this ı’s greatest of Persian lords remains unknown, in Tabar¯ accounts of this same ı’s . episode his name is disclosed, while the actions of the two ﬁgures are now transposed. We recall that at the inception of his narrative Tabar¯ had maintained ı . that “Farruh¯n [i.e., Farrukh¯n], . . . had the rank of Shahrbar¯z.” However, a a a this is only one of the two traditions concerning this episode in Tabar¯ given in ı, . fact without any isn¯d. The second tradition, narrated through Ab¯ Ikramah, a u separates the two personalities. In this narrative, Farrukh¯n and Shahrvar¯z are a a depicted as brothers.779 The following story is then given: “When the Persians were victorious over the Byzantines, Farrukh¯n was once sitting and drinking, a and said to his companions, ‘I had a dream, and it was as if I saw myself on Kisr¯a ’s throne’.”780 When the news of Farrukh¯n’s design for the throne reached a Khusrow II, the latter wrote a letter to Shahrvar¯z ordering him to send him a Farrukh¯n’s head. Shahrvar¯z entreated Khusrow II to change his mind, ara a guing that he would “never ﬁnd anyone like Farrukh¯n who had inﬂicted so a much damage on the enemy or had such a formidable reputation among them.” Ab¯ Ikramah’s narrative, like that of Zuhr¯ underlines not only Farrukh¯n’s u ı, a participation in Khusrow II’s campaigns in the west, but also his power and centrality in these war efforts. Confronted with the obstinacy of Shahrvar¯z, a Khusrow II, furious, had a radical change of heart and declared to the people of Persia: “I hereby remove Shahrbar¯z from power over you and appoint Fara rukh¯n over you in his stead.” He then sent a letter containing the transfer of a power from one to the other as well as the order of the execution of Shahrvar¯z a by Farrukh¯n. In Ikramah’s narrative, it was when Farrukh¯n proceeded to a a implement the king’s order that Shahrvar¯z produced for him the letters that a Khusrow II had initially sent him ordering the execution of Farrukh¯n. At this a point Farrukh¯n relinquished power back to Shahrvar¯z. This then instigated a a Shahrvar¯z’s rebellion and mutiny and his cooperation with Heraclius. a In his commentary on this section of Tabar¯ Bosworth, doubting the idenı, . tity of Shahrvar¯z and Farrukh¯n as two separate ﬁgures, notes that here “the a a separation of Shahrbar¯z-Farrukh¯n into two different persons” continues in a a

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Tabar¯ narrative and remarks that “the second commander involved in the ı’s . story is presumably in reality the Sh¯h¯ mentioned” by Tabar¯ prior to this.781 a ın ı . In fact, however, we are dealing not with one, but with two distinct ﬁgures, neither of whom is Sh¯h¯ whose sagas during this period are closely connected. a ın, Some of the other eastern Christian sources (in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic) that have been investigated by Kaegi and Cobb give variant names for this second commander involved. Michael the Syrian’s account, for example, gives the name of the second commander as Kard¯r¯ a ıgan. Now according to Simocatta, Kard¯r¯ a ıgan is a Parthian title, the Persians being fond of being “called by their titles.”782 Agapius of Manjib renders the name Mard¯ and Chronique de Seert ıf gives Farinj¯n. Again Sh¯h¯ is nowhere to be found.783 Foreign names, of a a ın course, are rendered differently and sometimes mutilated beyond recognition in the process of transcultural transmission. Farrukh¯n, the name given by the a early Arabic sources—themselves based on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition—is in a a fact closest to what was probably the actual name or possibly the title of the ﬁgure concerned. For deciphering this and for our argument that we are in fact dealing with two separate ﬁgures and not one, we fortunately possess a source that in this, as in many other cases, contains valuable information, and here must be deemed the most reliable, namely the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ a a ı. 2.7.5 Farrukh Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n a

Ferdows¯ begins his narrative on the “injustices of Khusrow II and the ingratı itude of the army” by naming three ﬁgures who were deeply involved at this juncture. The ﬁrst of these is a ﬁgure called Gor¯z, the second Z¯d Farrukh, a a and a third Farrukhz¯d Adharmag¯n. The last ﬁgure, Farrukhz¯d Adharmag¯n, a ¯ a a ¯ a was a despised tax collector.784 What, however, of the other two? According to Ferdows¯ Gor¯z, about whom the author has not a few unkind words to ı, a say, was always in charge of protecting the Byzantine frontier, and was the ﬁrst to become rebellious when the just king commenced his injustices. There is no doubt that Ferdows¯ Gor¯z is the same ﬁgure as Shahrvar¯z, gor¯z, bor¯ı’s a a a a z, or var¯z, that is boar, being the sufﬁx to shahr, that is, region or empire, a whence boar of the empire, Shahrvar¯z.785 For our future purposes it is also ima portant to note that the wild boar has a signiﬁcant religious symbolism, being
n. 775, pp. 328–329, de Goeje, 1008. Hormozd IV’s wars against the Byzantines in 582–586, a Kard¯r¯ a ıgan, the satrap, is centrally involved. It is possible that Kard¯r¯ a ıgan’s name is derived from the title k¯rd¯r, tax collector, in a a which case Michael the Syrian might have confused this commander with Farrukhz¯d Adharmaa ¯ g¯n; see footnote 784 below. a 783 Michael the Syrian, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, Paris, 1899, edited and translated by J.-B. Chabot (Michael the Syrian 1899), IV. 408–409 and II. 408–409. Agapius of Manjib, Kit¯b a al- Unv¯n, vol. 8 of Patrologia Orientalis, 1911, edited and translated by A. Vasiliev (Agapius of a Manjib 1911); Seert 1918, Chronique de Seert, vol. 13 of Patrologia Orientalis, 1918, translated by R. Griveau and A. Scher (Seert 1918). All cited in Cobb and Kaegi 2002, pp. 124–125, 126 and 127 respectively. 784 See Nöldeke 1979, pp. 563–564, n. 68. 785 Justi 1895, pp. 277–278.
782 In 781 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

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a representation of the God Mihr.786 Ferdows¯ account, therefore, conﬁrms ı’s the identity of Shahrvar¯z as a leading ﬁgure of the Sasanian–Byzantine wars. a In the second ﬁgure, Z¯d Farrukh, however, as we shall see, we are most proba ably dealing with the son of the Farrukh¯n of Tabar¯ So what is Ferdows¯ a ı. ı’s . narrative, and who are Z¯d Farrukh and Farrukh¯n? a a According to Ferdows¯ once Shahrvar¯z/Gor¯z became rebellious, Z¯d ı, a a a Farrukh—who was “so close to Khusrow II that none dared to approach him without his permission”787 —also rebelled and joined forces with Shahrvar¯z. a Ferdows¯ hints at the correspondence between Z¯d Farrukh and Shahrvar¯z, ı a a at the end of which Shahrvar¯z commenced his own correspondence with the a Byzantine emperor, Heraclius, encouraging him to attack Iran.788 After it became clear that Shahrvar¯z had mutinied against him, Khusrow II wrote a letter a which he anticipated to be intercepted by Heraclius’ men. Khusrow II, in other words, used a ruse. In it, he encouraged Shahrvar¯z to prepare for a coordia nated attack against Heraclius, whereby the army of Shahrvar¯z and that of a Khusrow II himself would clamp that of Heraclius from two sides. Ferdows¯ narrative makes it clear that Heraclius was either very close to or already ı’s within the Iranian territory. As intended, the message was intercepted by Heraclius and achieved its purpose of arousing his suspicions of Shahrvar¯z’s peaceful a intentions.789 Meanwhile Khusrow II sent another message to Shahrvar¯z, instructing him a to send the mutinous members of his army to him. Shahrvar¯z then instructed a 12,000790 of his army to move toward Iran, set up camp at Ardash¯ Khurrah, ır not to cross the water, and remain united.791 Khusrow II, who “was not pleased with [the army’s] arrival,” sent Z¯d Farrukh to reprimand them for letting Hera aclius invade Iran. Z¯d Farrukh delivered Khusrow II’s message. But in the a guise of a messenger he, too, mutinied: he entered into secret negotiations with the mutinous army. As he was sympathetic toward the cause of Shahrvar¯z a
786 The wild boar is singled out twice in Mihr Yasht as the ﬁfth incarnation of Mithra. Mihr Yasht 1883, Mihr Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1883, translated by James Darmesteter (Mihr Yasht 1883), §§70, 127, cited in Garsoian, Nina G., ‘The Iranian Substratum of Agat angelos Cycle’, in Armenia between Byzantium and the Sasanians, pp. 151–189, London, 1985a, reprinted from Nina G. Garsoian, East of Byzantium: Syria and Armenia in the Formative Period, Washington, 1982 (Garsoian 1985a), p. 160. See also footnote 2257 below. 787 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 238, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2894: ı ı
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vol. IX, pp. 243–244, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2899–2900. ı vol. IX, pp. 243–244, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2895–2897. ı 790 Note, again, the messianic number. 791 For a detailed exposition of the course of this last phase of the Sasanian–Byzantine war see Sebeos 1999, pp. 214–220.
789 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

788 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

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§2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

(pay¯mbar yek¯ bod bih dil b¯ Gor¯z), he instructed Shahrvar¯z’s army to rea ı a a a main united and not to divulge the name of the mutinous members among them. Through a second set of correspondences with the army, Z¯d Farrukh a reiterated his support and encouraged them not to fear the wrath of Khusrow II, arguing that it was he who had scattered the army to the corners of the world, and assured them that there were no longer any grandees at Khusrow II’s court who would lend him their support. Meanwhile, he retained his posture of loyalty vis-à-vis Khusrow II. The king, however, suspected Z¯d Farrukh’s mutia nous intentions but did not divulge it. Here, Ferdows¯ provides us with an ı extremely crucial piece of information: Khusrow II kept his knowledge of Z¯d a Farrukh’s intent to himself because he was afraid of his brother, Rustam, who, with 10,000 men under his command, had already rebelled in his region.792 Z¯d a Farrukh meanwhile gathered support for his mutiny. It was decided that Khusrow II’s time had come and that a new king must assume the throne. The above narrative is presented in a somewhat similar fashion in Ibn Balkh¯ account. ı’s According to him, it was to Z¯d Farrukh, rendered as Z¯d¯n Farrukh, the coma a a mander of Khusrow II’s army, that the order of murdering 36,000 men from the “famous and elite and Princes and soldiers and Arabs” was given. When the latter refused to carry out the king’s orders and news reached the army, tumult spread among them, and the commanders of the regions, fearing their lot, each started strengthening the realm under their control. These ﬁnally conspired, in secret (dar sirr), with the elite of F¯rs and the king’s ministers and deposed the a king.793 They cast lots for Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, Khusrow II’s son, who had been ır¯ a imprisoned by his father.794 Ferdows¯ account, therefore, leaves no doubt about two facts: ﬁrst, the ı’s Parthian Shahrvar¯z did indeed mutiny, and second, in his rebellion he was not a
792 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, pp. 243–244, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2899–2900: ı
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For a discussion of the regions under the control of the Ispahbudh¯n family, see page 188ff. a Balkh¯ 1995, p. 257. ı 794 Howard–Johnston maintains that at this point Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d “made contact with a leading ır¯ a disaffected magnate, the former supreme commander of Sasanian forces. The latter gathered support for a coup at the court and in the higher echelons of the army, sent a deputation to inform Heraclius of the conspirators’ plans, and put them into action on the night of 23–24 February 628.” Sebeos does not give the name of this leading disaffected magnate. Sebeos 1999, p. 221.
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alone and, in fact, had the collaboration of another force, stationed at the capital, and identiﬁed by Ferdows¯ as the powerful Z¯d Farrukh.795 The ﬁgure of ı a Z¯d Farrukh, and his conspiracy and correspondence with the army of Shahra var¯z, was crucial to the mutiny that subsequently took place against Khusrow a II Parv¯ But Ferdows¯ also furnishes us with another signiﬁcant piece of inforız. ı mation: with 10,000 troops at his disposal, Z¯d Farrukh’s brother, Rustam, had a already staged a rebellion of his own during this period. This piece of information is of signiﬁcant value in determining the period during the latter parts of Khusrow II’s reign in which these events took place. Third phase (621–628) We know that in the third phase of the Sasanian–Byzantine wars, in 624, there was a dramatic reversal of the course of the war in which, under the banner of holy war, Heraclius effected the conquest of Transcaucasia and, taking the northern route through Armenia, captured Dvin. Afterwards, the northwestern parts of Sasanian realms were at Heraclius’ mercy. Under the personal command of the emperor, the Byzantine army invaded Azarb¯yj¯n and Mea a dia. In the same year, Gandzak was sacked by Heraclius’ army.796 The initial conquest of Azarb¯yj¯n then, was the ﬁrst important phase of the reversal of a a the course of the war. It was at this point that Khusrow II Parv¯ recalled the ız Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z.797 Azarb¯yj¯n, however, was invaded by the Byzantines a a a a on two separate occasions, not only in 624–626, but also in 627–628.798 The combination of the information at our disposal therefore informs us that by 624 Heraclius’ army was in Azarb¯yj¯n. By 626–627, Shahrvar¯z had mutinied a a a and Z¯d Farrukh had become a coconspirator of the Mihr¯nid in his mutiny a a against Khusrow II. Prior to the mutiny of Z¯d Farrukh and Shahrvar¯z, the a a brother of Z¯d Farrukh, Rustam had already rebelled. All these crucial rebela lions, therefore, took place in the period between 624–627, the period in which Heraclius invaded Azarb¯yj¯n. Who, however, were the brothers Rustam and a a Z¯d Farrukh who held such tremendous power in Khusrow II’s realm? Who a was the Persian lord conspiring with Shahrvar¯z? And how was all this cona nected with Heraclius’ invasion of Azarb¯yj¯n? a a
795 Theophanes, who calls the other general Kardarigas, speciﬁcally highlights his complicity with Heraclius. When Heraclius intercepts the letter that Khusrow II had sent to Kardarigas in which the Sasanian king had ordered the latter to murder Shahrvar¯z, he showed the letter to Shahrvar¯z. a a Shahrvar¯z in turn asked Kardarigas whether he was resolved to do this. Theophanes then maina tains, the “commanders were ﬁlled with anger and renounced Chosroes, and they made a peaceful settlement with the emperor.” Theophanes, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantyine and Near Eastern History AD 284–813, Oxford, 1997, translated with introduction and commentary by Cyril Mango and Roger Scott (Theophanes 1997), pp. 452–453. Emphasis mine. 796 Sebeos 1999, p. 214. 797 Sebeos 1999, p. 215. 798 Minorsky, V., ‘Roman and Byzantine Campaigns in Atropatene’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 11, (1944), pp. 243–265 (Minorsky 1944), p. 248. For a campaign said to have been undertaken in 621/2 in southern Azarb¯yj¯n, “we have no authentic report.” Ibid. a a

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§2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN Prince of the Medes On a number of occasions Sebeos mentions a ﬁgure whom he calls the Prince of the Medes,799 Kho˙okh Ormizd (Farrukh Hormozd).800 The Prince of the r Medes, Sebeos informs us, “was the Prince of the region of Atrpatakan [Azarb¯yj¯n].”801 As Sebeos, Ferdows¯ and some of our Arabic sources clearly ina a ı, form us, moreover, Rustam and Z¯d Farrukh, or Farrukhz¯d—Z¯d Farrukh a a a being simply an inverted rendition of the name—were the sons of Farrukh Hormozd (Kho˙okh Ormizd), Sebeos’ Prince of the Medes and Prince of Azarr b¯yj¯n.802 Sebeos further provides us with a fascinating and crucial piece of a a information: On the eve of Shahrvar¯z’s rebellion, the army of the Persian ema pire had divided into three main parts. “One force was in Persia and the East; one force was Kho˙eam’s [i.e., Shahrvar¯z’s] in the area of Asorestan; and one r a force in Atrpatakan.”803 By the end of the Sasanian–Byzantine wars, therefore, the Iranian army had divided into three. As we shall see in Chapter 3, this division of the Iranian armed forces into three camps did not only precipitate the deposition and murder of Khusrow II Parv¯ but it also led to four subsequent ız, years of tumultuous crisis. For it is as a result of this factionalism that during the period 628–632 one Sasanian king and queen succeeded the other. We have, however, jumped ahead of our narrative. Which are the three armed factions enumerated by Sebeos? We will discuss the army of Persia and the East below.804 The army under Kho˙eam, it is clear, was none other than the conquest r ¯ o a army under the Parthian dynast, the Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z in As¯rist¯n.805 a a It is the leadership and constituency of the third army, however, that once and for all clariﬁes the identity of the Persian lord. For there is no doubt that the army of Atrpatakan mentioned by Sebeos was the force under the command of Kho˙okh Ormizd (Farrukh Hormozd), the Prince of the Medes, and his sons r Farrukhz¯d (Ferdows¯ Z¯d Farrukh) and Rustam. As we have seen, Sebeos a ı’s a speciﬁcally maintains that Kho˙okh Ormizd was the “Prince of the region of r
1999, pp. 107, 243–246, 253, and n. 661. 1999, p. 107. 801 Sebeos 1999, p. 89. 802 Sebeos 1999, p. 92. As we shall see in the next chapter, many layers of confusion have been imposed on the traditions of this important Parthian dynastic family. On the most trivial level this has led to an obvious yet crucial mistake in the simple genealogy of this family where, even in some of our contemporary secondary accounts, Rustam is considered the son, as opposed to the brother of Farrukhz¯d! For a detailed discussion of this family, see §3.3.1 below, but see also the a genealogical tree on page 471. 803 Sebeos 1999, p. 89. 804 See page 155. 805 As we shall see in Chapter 3, the precise constituency of the force under Shahrvar¯z’s control a cannot be deciphered. This was a force that had probably seen years of exile during the Persian– Byzantine conﬂict. The force under his command included most likely a good number number of his Mihr¯nid constituency, but we should also recall that P¯ a ırag-i Shahrvar¯z had been assigned as a sp¯hbed of the quarter of the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z) by Khusrow II. This might explain Shahrvar¯z’s a u e o a complicity with the native S¯ ani contingents in deposing Ardash¯ III, as we shall see in §3.2.3. ıst¯ ır
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Atrpatakan.”806 At some point shortly before the deposition of Khusrow II in 628, when Z¯d Farrukh, the son of the Prince of Atrpatakan, was secretly in a correspondence with the forces of Shahrvar¯z, and most probably contemporaa neous with, or shortly after, Heraclius’ invasion of Azarb¯yj¯n in 624, Rustam, a a the son of Farrukh Hormozd, had also rebelled, most probably in the same region over which his father ruled, Azarb¯yj¯n. a a In Ferdows¯ narrative the name of the dynastic leader of the family, Farı’s rukh Hormozd, is missing or is mistakingly replaced by that of his son, Z¯d a Farrukh (Farrukhz¯d). Indeed, virtually the same actions performed by the a father Farrukh Hormozd, who is called Farrukh¯n in Tabar¯ are attributed a ı, . by Ferdows¯ to Z¯d Farrukh (Farrukhz¯d).807 This is yet another example of ı a a the confusion in the sources about a father–son pair, to which we have already hinted,808 and which in any case is quite understandable in view of the agnatic power structure within a dynastic family, where a son could very well be acting on behalf of his father.809 That Farrukh Hormozd, however, was the prime instigator of the family’s policies and that therefore in the person of Farrukh¯n a of Tabar¯ we are in all likelihood dealing with this same ﬁgure, is most clearly ı . reﬂected in the subsequent history of the Sasanians. The army under the leadership of Farrukh Hormozd (Farrukh¯n or Khurrukh¯n) was, next to those a a of Shahrvar¯z and of Sh¯h¯ most likely the third army division involved in a a ın, the Sasanian–Byzantine wars, reﬂecting the accuracy of all the narratives at our disposal. Shahrvar¯z presented the case for his defection as well as that of his putative a brother Farrukh¯n (Farrukh Hormozd) to Heraclius: “The ones who laid waste a to your towns were my brother and my self, with our stratagems and our valor. But now Kisr¯ has come to envy us and wants to kill my brother. When I a refused to do so, he ordered my brother to kill me. Hence both of us have thrown off allegiance to him, and are ready to ﬁght at your side.”810 A presumed brother and accomplice of Shahrvar¯z is in this case apocryphal.811 The coconspirators a of the Parthian Mihr¯nid dynast, therefore, were the family of the Prince of a the Medes. As Ferdows¯ narrative’s inform us, the two factions collaborated ı’s
806 Sebeos 1999, p. 89. This might be an indication that Farrukh Hormozd was appointed as the sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n. We must assume that the Ispahbudh¯n, to which family Farrukh a u a a a a Hormozd belonged as we shall argue shortly, had lost their sp¯hbed¯ over the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n in a ı u aa the aftermath of Vist¯hm’s rebellion and the appointment of Smbat Bagratuni over the region (see a note 744). 807 This confusion between Farrukh Hormozd and his son Farrukhz¯d, with slightly different a ır renderings of their names, persists in the narratives about the deposition of Ardash¯ III and the ascension of B¯r¯ndukht, as we shall see on pages 184 and 187. ua 808 See for instance the confusion between the K¯rinid Sukhr¯ and his son Zarmihr discussed in a a §2.4.3. 809 See §1.2. 810 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 330, de Goeje, 1008. ı . 811 So far as I can establish, there was no familial relationship between Farrukh Hormozd and Shahrvar¯z, and in fact, we will shortly argue that Farrukh Hormozd belonged to the Ispahbudh¯n a a family.

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secretly. Although Khusrow II was aware of their conspiracy and he did order the leadership of one faction—Farrukh¯n in Tabar¯ Z¯d Farrukh in Ferdows¯ a ı, a ı— . to kill the other, Shahrvar¯z, he had to keep at least a semblance of cordiality a toward the former family, that of the Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd. And so all the motifs of the anecdotal series of letters between Khusrow II and his powerful generals, Shahrvar¯z and the Persian lord Farrukh¯n (Farrukh a a Hormozd), are in fact historically valid. There is no need to conﬂate the identity of personalities that are clearly portrayed as two separate ﬁgures in most of our narratives.812 In the last decisive months of the Sasanian–Byzantine wars, not only Shahrvar¯z mutinied, but also Farrukh Hormozd, the Prince of the a Medes, withdrew his army of Azarb¯yj¯n, and indirectly, at least, cooperated a a with Heraclius. Moreover, the family of Farrukh Hormozd pursued a collective policy. It was perhaps this signiﬁcant rebellion of the Prince of the Medes, or rather, as Sebeos and Ferdows¯ maintain, of his son Rustam, in Azarb¯yj¯n, ı a a that allowed Heraclius to invade Azarb¯yj¯n in 624. An alternative scenario is a a equally plausible: the success of Heraclius in the eastern wars, together with the collective policies of Khusrow II, led the Prince of the Medes to withdraw his support from Khusrow II, thus allowing Heraclius to invade through Azarb¯ya j¯n, the territory under his control. a The precise turn of events as a result of the policies pursued by the Parthian leaders of the two great armies of Iran at this point, Shahrvar¯z and Farrukh a Hormozd, and their postures vis-à-vis Heraclius and Khusrow II Parv¯ need ız, to be placed in the context of the theater of war in Azarb¯yj¯n.813 Those who a a maintain an earlier date for the agreement of Heraclius with Shahrvar¯z and the a ﬁgure that we have now identiﬁed as Farrukh Hormozd, namely 624–626/627 CE ,814 provide a more convincing version of events.815 As Tabar¯ account ı’s . highlights, Heraclius, Shahrvar¯z, and Farrukh Hormozd must have reached a some sort of understanding either prior to or in the midst of Heraclius’ invasion of Azarb¯yj¯n. A thorough reexamination of the course of the war of 624–626 a a must account for the active participation of the army of Azarb¯yj¯n, under the a a leadership of the dynastic family of Farrukh Hormozd, whose territory was invaded when the course of the war was reversed. In this campaign, Heraclius invaded Azarb¯yj¯n, sacked Gandzak, Ormi, Hamad¯n, and Media. The ﬁre of a a a
812 Incidentally, the confusion in the sources between these two ﬁgures might also be explained by the fact that Shahrvar¯z’s full name, as it appears on the seals, was P¯ a ırag-i Shahrvar¯z, the ﬁrst part a of which would be rendered in Arabic as F¯rak and therefore could very well have been confused ı with Farrukh. 813 For the third phase of the war, see also page 149ff above. 814 Minorsky 1944, p. 248. 815 Howard–Johnston claims that there “is no hint . . . [in Sebeos] of any earlier political understanding, such as that alleged to have been reached by Heraclius and Shahrvaraz in 626 by Chronique de Seert, Tabari and Dionysius. The allegation should probably be rejected as a piece of deliberate disinformation, circulated to further Roman interests as the war reached a climax in 627–628.” Sebeos 1999, p. 223. In the face of the overwhelming evidence presented by the sources, however, to which we can now add Ferdows¯ Howard–Johnston’s claim is not tenable here. Also see Cobb and ı, Kaegi 2002, passim.

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN

¯ Adhar Gushnasp was ransacked and extinguished.816 Most signiﬁcantly, when Khusrow II was deposed in February 628 CE,817 and his son, Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d ır¯ a enthroned in April 628, suing for peace, the new king’s envoy was dispatched to Gandzak in Azarb¯yj¯n, the territory of Farrukh Hormozd, where Heraclius’ a a army had encamped.818 What led to “one of the most astonishing reversals of fortune in the annals of war,”819 and the ﬁnal victory of the Byzantines over the Sasanians in one of the great wars of late antiquity, therefore, was the desertion and mutiny of the leaders of two of the major armies that had steered the course of the war prior to this in favor of Khusrow II Parv¯ One mutinous party was P¯ ız. ırag-i Shahrvar¯z, a the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z of the Mihr¯n family, the Parthian general ea a u e o a of Khusrow II. The other was the dynastic family of the Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd, and his sons Farrukhz¯d and Rustam. While Shahrvar¯z a a was from the Parthian Mihr¯nid family, moreover, it will be argued below that a the family of Farrukh Hormozd was most probably none other than the Ispahbudh¯n family,820 whose power extended not only over Azarb¯yj¯n but also, as a a a we shall establish,821 over Khur¯s¯n. It was as a result of the mutiny of these aa two towering Parthian dynastic families that the last powerful Sasanian king, Khusrow II Parv¯ lost one of the greatest wars of late antiquity, and eventually ız his very crown. Who, however, were the other factions involved in the mutiny? 2.7.6 Khusrow II’s deposition

In the aftermath of his conspiracy with Shahrvar¯z, Farrukhz¯d, the son of a a the Prince of the Medes, set upon toppling Khusrow II Parv¯ and bringing anız other Sasanian king to power.822 According to Ferdows¯ Farrukhz¯d gathered ı, a a numerous army and met with the Armenian sp¯hbed Tukh¯r, another leading a a conspirator against Khusrow II. This Tukh¯r was none other than Varaztirots‘, a the son of Khusrow II’s previous rescuer in the east, Smbat Bagratuni. Varaztirots‘ had been educated at the Sasanian court and was later appointed marzb¯n a of Armenia, acquiring the title of Javitean Khusrow.823 For reasons that require further research, however, his relationship with Khusrow II Parv¯ soured. The ız
¯ 1999, pp. 214–215. For the Adhar Gushnasp ﬁre, see page 362 below. 1879, p. 382, n. 2, Nöldeke 1979, p. 580, n. 135. 818 Sebeos 1999, p. 222. 819 Sebeos 1999, p. xxiv. 820 This is an important claim of this study, a detailed investigation of which has to be postponed to a more relevant section, §3.3.1. For now we mention that in some of our sources Farrukh Hormozd is clearly maintained to be the son of the Ispahbudh¯n Vind¯yih; see page 187. a u 821 See page 188ff. 822 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 379, 381, de Goeje, 1043, 1045; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 244, Ferdows¯ 1935, ı ı ı . p. 2900:
816 Sebeos 817 Nöldeke
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823 Chaumont

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§2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

term tukh¯r in Ferdows¯ narrative refers to the ofﬁce of tanut¯r, which was a ı’s e ﬁrst given to Smbat Bagratuni.824 The tanut¯r was the “senior member of a e naxarar family,” in this case the Bagratuni house.825 As we have seen, the Bagratuni house had become centrally involved in the military and administrative organization of the Sasanian realm during Khusrow II’s tenure, with Smbat being largely responsible for putting down Vist¯hm’s rebellion.826 Varaztirots‘, however, joined the ranks of the rebellious faca tions who, according to Ferdows¯ were being led by Farrukhz¯d in the capital. ı, a That Varaztirots‘ played a central role in the rebellion that toppled Khusrow II and led to Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s succession is corroborated by the fact that upon ır¯ a assuming the throne, Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d “summoned Varaztirots‘, son of Smbat ır¯ a Bagratuni called J¯v¯ an, and gave him the ofﬁce of tanut¯r.”827 An Armenian a ıt¯ e faction, therefore, was also involved in the deposition of Khusrow II. A third important faction involved in Khusrow II’s deposition was that of another Parthian dynastic family, the Kan¯rang¯ an, whom we shall examine a ıy¯ in detail later.828 For when Farrukhz¯d informed Tukh¯r (Varaztirots‘) of the a a factions’ choice for the Iranian throne, the Armenian naxarar responded that “the choice would be pleasing to the kan¯rang as well.”829 Farrukhz¯d’s coup a a was successful and, according to Tha ¯lib¯ Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d was taken to the a ı, ır¯ a house of Farrukhz¯d, whom the author depicts as the h¯jib of the king, where a .a he was declared king the next morning.830 But with a young king on the throne, and in what is typical of the course of Sasanian history, Farrukhz¯d seemed to a be actually running affairs.831 There is a lengthy set of correspondences of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d who, at the ır¯ a instigation of the dynastic factions, enumerated those aspects of Khusrow II’s policies that had wreaked havoc on Iran. A key issue, as Shahbazi puts it, thirty years after the fact,832 was Khusrow II’s treatment of the Ispahbudh¯n brothers a
1999, p. 86, n. 534 and p. 49, n. 307. See also §2.7.2. 1989, p. 563. Tukh¯r is the Persian rendition of the Armenian title tanut¯r of a a e naxarar family (from Parthian naxvadar), “the general term designating the ﬁrst Aršakuni society superior to the azat and referring to the nobility rather than a particular rank or ofﬁce.” Buzandaran 1989, p. 549. In the revolt of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ the two houses that had aided Khusrow II in a u ın regaining his throne were the houses of Mušeł Mamikonean and Smbat Bagratuni. In 602, when the Byzantine emperor Maurice ordered the deportation and resettlement of a substantial section of the Armenian population, the Armenian nobility split. Mušeł wavered between Khusrow II and Maurice, while Smbat’s house always took the side of Khusrow II. Chaumont 1991, p. 432. 826 See §2.7.2. 827 Sebeos 1999, p. 86. 828 See page 266ff. 829 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 245, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2901: ı ı
825 Buzandaran
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For the connection of the Kan¯rang¯ an to the Ispahbudh¯n, see page 266. a ıy¯ a p. 714, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 455–457. a ı 831 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, pp. 250–253, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2905–2908. ı ı 832 Shahbazi 1991b, p. 182.
830 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, a ı

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN

Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm. In the Sh¯hn¯ma, after being accused of the regicide u a a a against his father Hormozd IV, Khusrow II is called upon to explain his treatment of the Ispahbudh¯n brothers. “They were my uncles,” Khusrow II Parv¯ a ız retorted, “without equals in all the regions. They had put their lives on the line for me. They were kind and of my blood. Yet, when they committed regicide and killed my father [Hormozd IV], I had no choice but to kill them.”833 In Ferdows¯ rendition of the events it was Farrukhz¯d who ﬁnally sent an ı’s a assassin to murder Khusrow II Parv¯ This, as we shall see later, also corrobız. orates our contention that the Prince of the Medes was from the Ispahbudh¯n a family.834 N¯mr¯z¯ army ı u ı Apart from Shahrvar¯z and Farrukh Hormozd’s forces, an Armenian faction a and the Kan¯rang¯ an were also among the central players involved in the dea ıy¯ position of the last powerful Sasanian king. What, however, does Sebeos mean by the army of Persia and the East? While there is a probability that he is here referring to the forces of the Kan¯rang¯ an family, the army of Persia and the a ıy¯ East most probably refers to the army of N¯ uz, that is S¯ an.835 While the ımr¯ ıst¯ Sh¯hn¯ma highlights the role of Z¯d Farrukh (Farrukhz¯d) from the Ispahbuda a a a h¯n family in the deposition of Khusrow II, Tabar¯ account, together with a a ı’s . group of other narratives, highlights the part played by the sp¯hbed of N¯ uz a ımr¯ and his son,836 making its identiﬁcation with Sebeos’ army of Persia and the East all the more likely. From the end of Khusrow II’s rule onward, the army of N¯ uz is one of ımr¯ three main factions that struggle for the control of the Sasanian throne, the others being those of Shahrvar¯z and of Farrukh Hormozd. Unfortunately, the a dynastic afﬁliation of the N¯ uz¯ faction requires further research, and we can ımr¯ ı only conjecture that it was controlled by the S¯ren dynastic family, as S¯ an u ıst¯
833 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, pp. 254–276, here, pp. 262–263, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2912–2923, here ı ı p. 2917:
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Signiﬁcantly, once again, Ferdows¯ disguises here the protracted rebellion of Vist¯hm. ı a §3.3.1. It is also reﬂective of the nature of the opposition against Khusrow II Parv¯ rule ız’s that one of the issues raised by the factions was the charge that the Sasanian king had positioned armies in distant regions. Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, pp. 269–270, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2922–2923; ı ı Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 722, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 458. a ı a ı 835 A third, less likely alternative is that the army of Persia and the East refers to a force that had gathered in the Outer Khur¯s¯n regions (see §6.2.1), an army that ultimately tried to set up the child aa Khusrow III as king. What could have been the make-up of this force, if in fact this alternative is valid, I have not been able to ascertain. 836 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 396, de Goeje, 1059. ı .
834 See

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§2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

was the original ﬁefdom of the S¯rens.837 We propose that the S¯renid dynastic u u family of S¯ an in southeastern Iran had become so enmeshed with the house of ıst¯ Pers¯ on account of the greater coincidence of their sociopolitical interest with ıs, the Sasanians, that at least a group of them adopted the dynastic epithet P¯rs¯g, a ı and functioned under the umbrella faction of the P¯rs¯ What lends credence a ıg. to this hypothesis is that we in fact have evidence of S¯rens who carried the u epithet P¯rs¯g. Remarkably, as Christensen has already pointed out a long time a ı ago, in the narratives of Faustus of Byzance we ﬁnd two S¯rens who carry the u P¯rs¯ epithet in addition to their dynastic family name.838 Among the sp¯hbed a ıg a seals unearthed by Gyselen, furthermore, those of W¯h-Sh¯buhr, the ¯r¯n-sp¯he a ea a bed of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z, bear the epithet aspbed i p¯rs¯g, Persian aspbed.839 It is, u e o a ı furthermore, extremely probable that he had a S¯ren agnatic afﬁliation. Citing u the evidence pointed out by Christensen, Gyselen herself conjectures as much, although, again, all the evidence at our disposal remains inconclusive.840 Several accounts underline the preponderant role of the N¯ uz¯ faction in ımr¯ ı the dynastic struggles that ensued, reaching their height at precisely the time when the Arab onslaught on Sasanian territories began. In these narratives, the N¯ uz¯ faction’s involvement began with the deposition and murder of ımr¯ ı Khusrow II and the accession of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d in 628. We have evidence of ır¯ a an army of N¯ uz, however, at other crucial junctures of Sasanian history. ımr¯ We recall, for example, that when the Byzantines, the Armenians, and the Ispahbudh¯n brothers coalesced around Khusrow II against Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın, the army of N¯ uz also set out to aid the feeble Sasanian king.841 As we ımr¯ shall see later on, at another highly critical juncture, when the Arab onslaught threatened the Sasanian monarchy, Rustam asked his brother Farrukhz¯d to a solicit the cooperation of the army of S¯ an. The army of S¯ an, periodically ıst¯ ıst¯ mentioned at crucial junctures of Sasanian history, is therefore, in all likelihood, the force that Sebeos calls the army of Persia and the East. According to Tabar¯ when the Parthian led conspiracy of the house of ı, . the Prince of the Medes and the army of Shahrvar¯z had brought Sh¯ uyih a ır¯ Qub¯d to power, Khusrow II was put in prison. The great men of the state a then told Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d: “It is not ﬁtting that we should have two kings: ır¯ a either you kill Kisr¯, and we will be your faithful and obedient servants, or a we shall depose you and give our obedience to him [i.e., Khusrow II Parv¯ ız] just as we always did before you secured the royal power.”842 Struck with fear and crushed,843 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d then sent an envoy, one Asf¯djushnas,844 to ır¯ a a

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was one of the main regions of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z. u e o 1944, p. 105, n. 2, as cited in Gyselen 2001a, p. 23, n. 56. See also note 308. 839 Gyselen 2001a, seals 2c and B, p. 46. 840 “One cannot rule out that the title of aspbed i p¯rs¯g might have been reserved for the S¯ r¯n a ı ue family. But this is clearly only purely speculation.” Gyselen 2001a, p. 23, n. 56. 841 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 105, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2676–2677. See page 128. ı ı 842 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 381–382, de Goeje, 1046. Emphasis added. ı . 843 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 382, de Goeje, 1046. ı . 844 There is confusion surrounding the position of this ﬁgure. Based on D¯ ınawar¯ who claims that ı,
838 Christensen

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN

Khusrow II Parv¯ Asf¯djushnas was charged with communicating to the deız. a posed king all his evil actions, and the reasons for his deposition and ﬁnal murder.845 Asf¯djushnas then met with J¯ us or J¯l¯ us, a ﬁgure whom Tabar¯ a ılin¯ a ın¯ ı . identiﬁes as the commander of the guard in charge of keeping ward over Khusrow II. It is possible that J¯l¯ us was in fact one of the Armenian dynasts ena ın¯ snared in Sasanian history at this important juncture.846 If this was the case, then Tabar¯ folkloric rendition is meant to highlight the complicity of the ı’s . Armenian faction in the deposition of Khusrow II. At any rate, Tabar¯ reitı . erates an elaborate exchange of grievances against Khusrow II and the latter’s reply to these.847 Being hard-pressed, Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d then ordered the execuır¯ a tion of his father.848 From among “several men who had duties incumbent upon them of vengeance against Khusrow II Parv¯ no one dared to undertake the ız,” task of regicide, however. Finally a “youth named Mihr Hurmuz [i.e., Mihr Hormozd], son of Mard¯nsh¯h,”849 volunteered his services. a a Mard¯nsh¯h S¯ren a a u According to one version of Tabar¯ narrative, Mard¯nsh¯h was Khusrow II’s ı’s a a . p¯dh¯sp¯n over the province of N¯ uz.850 It is to be noted that the cooperaa u a ımr¯ tion of Mard¯nsh¯h, the p¯dh¯sp¯n of N¯ uz, with Shahrvar¯z, the (former) a a a u a ımr¯ a sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z, makes perfect sense, for the ofﬁce of p¯dh¯sp¯n a u e o a u a was subordinate to that of the sp¯hbed of any given k¯st. While Tabar¯ narraa u ı’s . tive only implicitly connects the Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z with the S¯ an¯ faction, a a ıst¯ ı other sources make their conspiracy explicit. Tabar¯ however, provides us with ı, . a piece of information that is possibly quite signiﬁcant for S¯ an’s history of ıst¯ afﬁliation with the house of S¯s¯n in the late Sasanian period. Mard¯nsh¯h, aa a a Tabar¯ maintains, was one of Khusrow II’s most obedient and trusty retainers. ı .
he was “the head of the secretaries responsible for ofﬁcial correspondence (ra ¯s kutt¯b al-ras¯ il),” ı a a Bosworth has emended Tabar¯ ra ¯s al-kat¯bah (head of the cavalry) with that in D¯ ı’s ı ı ınawar¯ making ı, . Asf¯djushnas the “head of the [royal] secretaries.” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 382 and n. 948, de Goeje, 1046. a ı . It is more than likely, however, that Tabar¯ original title for this ﬁgure is valid. ı’s . 845 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 382, de Goeje, 1046. ı . 846 In an attempt to identify this ﬁgure, Bosworth notes that his name “looks Greek rather than Persian; possibly he was a Christian and had adopted a Christian name in addition to an unknown, purely Persian one.” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 384 and n. 953, de Goeje, 1047. Citing other sources Bosworth ı . further identiﬁes him as someone who became a “leading general of the Persian troops combating the Arab invaders of Iraq and fell in the battle of Q¯disiya.” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 384, n. 953; see §3.4.1. a ı . This J¯l¯ us took part in the initial wars of the Sasanian against the Arabs. His name, therefore, a ın¯ might be the Arabic rendition, probably the title, of one of the Armenian dynasts that were at this point intimately involved in Sasanian affairs. As a son of Dawit‘, Mušeł Mamikonean, and Gregory of Siwnik‘ both fought under Rustam in the battle of Q¯disiya and were killed in 636, J¯l¯ us might a a ın¯ well refer to one of these ﬁgures. Sebeos 1999, p. 98. 847 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 385–394, de Goeje, 1048–1057. ı . 848 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 395, de Goeje, 1058. ı . 849 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 395, de Goeje, 1058. ı . 850 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 395, de Goeje, 1058. Justi calls Mard¯nsh¯h a brother of the Mihr¯nid Bahı a a a . r¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Justi 1895, p. 196. As we shall presently see, we are more inclined, in view of his a u ın. S¯ an¯ provenance, to assign him to the S¯ren family, who did call themselves at times P¯rs¯ see ıst¯ ı u a ıgs; notes 308 and 838.

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§2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS

Some “two years before his deposition, astrologers and diviners . . . had told him [i.e., Khusrow II] that his fated death would come from the direction of N¯ uz.”851 Khusrow II had therefore grown suspicious of Mard¯nsh¯h and ımr¯ a a become “fearful of his proximity, on account of Mard¯nsh¯h’s great prestige and a a because there was no one in that region [i.e., S¯st¯n] who could equal him in strength ı a and power.”852 Cognizant of Mard¯nsh¯h’s “faithful obedience to him, his good counsel to a a him, and his eagerness to please the king,” Khusrow II, however, spared Mard¯nsh¯h’s life but cut off his right hand, rendering him incapable of holding a a ofﬁce.853 Having his hand cut off in “the open space before the royal palace,” Mard¯nsh¯h was so grief-stricken that when the news of this reached Khusrow a a II Parv¯ the latter, in remorse, promised the p¯dh¯sp¯n of N¯ uz that he ız, a u a ımr¯ would grant him anything he wished. The p¯dh¯sp¯n chose death over living a u a mutilated and dishonored. Reluctantly and with a heavy dose of guilt, Khusrow II granted his wish. “[T]he heart of all the ajam was distressed by this,” Tabar¯ narrative maintains. ı’s . At the prospects of murdering Khusrow II Parv¯ therefore, it was Mihr ız, Hormozd, the son of Mard¯nsh¯h, who volunteered for the regicide. Khusrow a a II Parv¯ was “only too happy to have his life cut short by the son of a dignitary ız whom he had previously unjustly recompensed for his faithful service.”854 In Bal am¯ account, the S¯ an¯ faction spearheaded the revolt that toppled Khusı’s ıst¯ ı row II Parv¯ and appointed Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d as king. They were the ones ız ır¯ a who solicited the cooperation of the son of Vind¯yih—unnamed in Bal am¯ u ı’s account—in the deposition of Khusrow II.855 It is interesting to note that in Bal am¯ account, the list of grievances against Khusrow II included the murı’s der of Mard¯nsh¯h rather than that of Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm: Mard¯nsh¯h’s a a u a a a murder was listed as one of the king’s gravest sins.856 An important note on the provenance of the sources must be added. Khusrow II’s murder in vengeance has either been attributed to Farrukhz¯d or to a Mihr Hormozd in our sources. Each of these ﬁgures actually represents a
pp. 395–396, de Goeje, 1058–1059. . pp. 395–396, de Goeje, 1058–1059. Emphasis mine. . 853 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 396–397, and n. 974, de Goeje, 1059. The same story is given in Bal am¯ ı ı’s . Tarjumih-i T¯r¯kh-i Tabar¯, where he is also called Mard¯nsh¯h. His title, however, is given as the aı ı a a . am¯r (governor) of B¯bil and N¯ uz. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 241. ı a ımr¯ ı 854 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 397, de Goeje, 1060. ı . 855 In Bal am¯ version, after Khusrow II killed Mard¯nsh¯h, he decided to appoint the latter’s son, ı’s a a Hormozd, in the position of his father. Hormozd, later called Mihr Hormozd (p. 253), however, refused, and gave up his position (az lashkar¯ towbih kard). In this account, J¯l¯ us was the general, ı a ın¯ sarhang, who was put in charge of keeping guard over Khusrow II. The house in which Khusrow II was kept as a prisoner belonged to a personage called M¯h Isfand, whose title is again sarhang. a Finally, the person who was in charge of taking the list of the grievances against Khusrow II is called As ¯d Husayn or As ¯d Has¯ a . a . ıs(?), the ﬁgure whom Tabar¯ calls Asf¯djushnas. Bal am¯ 1959, ı a ı . pp. 242–244. 856 This, together with the general S¯ an¯ emphasis of Bal am¯ account, highlights the S¯ ren ıst¯ ı ı’s u provenance of Bal am¯ sources. ı’s
852 Tabar¯ 1999, ı 851 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

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C HAPTER 2: S ASANIANS §2.7: K HUSROW II / I SPAHBUDHAN

faction: Farrukhz¯d that of the Prince of the Medes (the Ispahbudh¯n857 ), with a a control over the army of Azarb¯yj¯n, and Mihr Hormozd that of N¯ uz, that a a ımr¯ is to say, Sebeos’ army of Persia and the East. If our identiﬁcations thus far are valid, therefore, what triggered “one of the most astonishing reversals of fortune in the annals of war” and the ultimate demise of the last effective Sasanian king, Khusrow II Parv¯ in 628—commencing the downfall of the Sasanian dynasty— ız was the refusal of the powerful Parthian dynastic agnates to continue their confederacy with the Sasanian dynasty. The division of the Sasanian army during the last years of Khusrow II Parv¯ into three separate entities, Shahrvar¯z’s ız a conquest army, Farrukh Hormozd’s army of Azarb¯yj¯n, and the army of Pera a sia and the East (the N¯ uz¯ forces858 ), had devastating consequences for the ımr¯ ı Sasanians. Sebeos’ work is unique among all sources at our disposal in explicitly highlighting this debilitating aspect of the Sasanian state’s defensive and offensive posture at this crucial juncture.859 The Sasanians ﬁnally came to lose the greatest war of antiquity substantially because the two Parthian dynasts, Shahrvar¯z of the Mihr¯n family and Farrukh Hormozd of the Ispahbudh¯n a a a family,860 mutinied against Khusrow II Parv¯ In insisting on taking credit for ız. the murder of one of the most maligned Sasanian kings, furthermore, the narrative sources betray two separate traditions, emanating from the Ispahbudh¯n a faction on the one hand and the S¯ an¯ (N¯ uz¯ faction on the other. The ıst¯ ı ımr¯ ı) discrepancies in these narratives therefore also betray the ways in which the Parthian dynastic families edited the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition.861 a a There is a reason, however, why of all possible dynasts involved at this crucial juncture of Sasanian history, our narratives underline the role of the Ispahbudh¯n and the N¯ uz¯ factions in the deposition of Khusrow II Para ımr¯ ı v¯ For overshadowing the tripartite division of the Sasanian forces was the ız. Sasanian–Parthian confederacy. It was under the respective Ispahbudh¯n and a N¯ uz¯ factions, established shortly after the deposition of Khusrow II, that ımr¯ ı the Iranians ﬁnally divided into two camps: the P¯rs¯ versus the Pahlav.862 The a ıg Sasanian–Parthian confederacy ultimately collapsed, and this at a highly critical moment in Sasanian history, when “from the Arab [regions] strong winds were blowing.”863 It is our goal to disentangle this ultimately disastrous episode for the Sasanians in the continuation of our story. A number of important
page 187ff page 155. 859 The recent analysis of Howard–Johnston sheds much light on our understanding of this important phase of Sasanian history. Unfortunately, Howard–Johnston totally overlooks the signiﬁcant role of the army of Atrapatkan (Azarb¯yj¯n) under the Prince of the Medes, and therefore fails to a a assess the true nature of this division and its ramiﬁcations. 860 As mentioned earlier, this identiﬁcation will be substantiated in the next chapter; see page 187ff. 861 For an elaboration of this point, see also Chapter 6.5, especially page 462ff. 862 See page 214ff below. 863 Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 465, Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 731: a ı a ı
858 See 857 See

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historiographical observations must be addressed in detail, however, before we can again pick up our narrative and discuss the effects of the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav debacle on the Arab conquest of Iranian territories.

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CHAPTER 3

The Arab conquest of Iran

n the face of it, the saga of the Sasanians in the last decades of their rule seems to defy any understanding. From the deposition of the powerful Khusrow II in 628 CE to the accession of the last Sasanian king Yazdgird III in 632 CE, no less than half a dozen monarchs are ofﬁcially counted in the roster of Sasanian kings in a period of about four years.864 Tabar¯ lists eight kings and ı . two queens.865 It has been suggested that some of these ruled simultaneously.866 Exasperation has been voiced over how little we know of these rulers.867 There is a similar unsubstantiated consensus that these ephemeral monarchs were put on the throne by various factions of the nobility, a nobility that was created in the wake of Khusrow I’s reforms.868 Which were the factions who spearheaded the candidacy of these monarchs, however? To date, no systematic effort in elucidating the tangled web of Sasanian history at this crucial juncture has been undertaken. The picture has been deemed too chaotic to be amenable to any logical disentanglement.

O

3.1

Question of sources: the fut¯ h and Xw ad¯y-N¯mag u. a a traditions

There is a bewildering array of Iranian names and personalities involved in this crucial period of Sasanian history. Through the process of transmission in the course of centuries, some of these names have all but metamorphosed into illegibility. Scholarly attitudes in dealing with this quagmire have been ﬂippant. In certain respects Noth’s analysis is representative of the consensus. In investigating the personal names of some of the commanders in the wars of

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864 Five monarchs, inclusive of Yazdgird III, are listed in the chapter dealing with Sasanian history in the Cambridge History of Iran. Frye 1983, p. 178. 865 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 381–409, de Goeje, 1045–1067. ı . 866 Nöldeke 1879, pp. 397–398, n. 5, Nöldeke 1979, pp. 594–595, n. 183. Analyzing Sebeos’ data, Howard–Johnston also comes to this conclusion, although, as we shall see, in line with the scholarship’s current consensus, the dates that he postulates for the Persian succession crisis are ﬂawed. Sebeos 1999, p. 225. 867 Frye 1983, p. 171. 868 Christensen 1944, p. 497 and especially pp. 500–501.

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conquest—names that are given in the fut¯h869 narratives—for example, Noth u. lumps together the order of the battles listed for the Arabs as well as those of the Iranians as mere topoi and argues that “it is impossible to say anything precise about the relation of these topoi to actual historical circumstances.”870 Noth then proceeds to examine the names of the Arab generals involved in these battles871 and concludes that “it is not clear if any or all of the formations and units which appear in a number of these traditions were already in existence in the early period.”872 Given the fact that Noth considers the theme of Iran as a primary theme873 in the early Arabic historical tradition, and given our knowledge of the nature of the fut¯h narratives,874 one would have expected Noth to u. have proposed caveats to this aspect of his thesis. This, unfortunately, is not the case. With very little investigation, Noth proceeds to argue that in “the description of the opposing side, especially the Persian side, we have to do with pure ﬁction.”875 The present study will take serious issue with this aspect of Noth’s thesis. We cannot afford to continue to reckon with this period of Iranian history in a vacuum that has been occasioned by our own lack of research. And where, as Noth himself admits, we are given detailed and unique information, it behooves us to investigate such information in depth before dismissing it as ﬁction or the result of a fertile imagination of, for instance, Sayf b. Umar,876 through whom posterity has received some of these traditions.877 To begin with, while we might not have enough information about Arab
869 As Noth observes, the “great majority of the traditions which deal with the time of the ﬁrst four caliphs is concerned with the ﬁrst large-scale conquests of the Muslims outside the Arabian peninsula . . . These are designated over all as fut¯h. Fut¯h thus constituted a—if not the—principal u. u. historical rubric under which the early traditionalists considered the ﬁrst decades of history after the death of Muhammad.” Noth 1994, p. 31. For an assessment of the fut¯h narratives, see ibid., u. . pp. 28–31; or our discussion in §3.1.1 below, as well as footnote 934. For some of the latest works on this theme, besides Noth’s, see, among others, Donner, Fred M., Narratives of Islamic Origin: The Beginnings of Islamic Historical Writing, vol. 14 of Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Princeton, 1998 (Donner 1998); Robinson, Chase F., Islamic Historiography: Themes in Islamic History, Cambridge University Press, 2003 (Robinson 2003). 870 Noth 1994, p. 114. 871 Noth 1994, p. 114, n. 34 where he gives references to pp. 97–98, 100–101. 872 Noth 1994, p. 114. 873 Noth deﬁnes a primary theme as a “subject area which, so far as the extant evidence allows us to judge, represents a genuine topic of interest, as opposed to an offshoot derived from—and therefore secondary to—one or several such early topics.” Noth 1994, p. 27 and p. 39. For our subsequent purposes we should point out that besides Iran, Noth considers the themes of ridda and fut¯h as u. primary themes as well. Ibid., pp. 28–30, 31–33, respectively. 874 For a comprehensive survey of Islamic historiography in the classical period, see Humphreys, R. Stephen, Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry, vol. 9, Minneapolis, 1991 (Humphreys 1991), especially pp. 4–127. 875 Noth 1994, p. 114. 876 See footnote 894 below. 877 Tabar¯ diligently starts each of his narratives by giving its chain of transmission (isn¯d), so that ı a . we almost always know when a tradition is due to Sayf.

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warfare and battle formation in pre-Islamic Arabia,878 we do possess enough information about the logistics of war, war strategies, and battle formations of the Sasanian army.879 Battle formations in right and left ﬂanks, main body, complemented with cavalry, infantry, rearguard and vanguard, and so forth—all aspects of Sasanian battle strategy that Noth was examining—have had a long history in Iranian warfare.880 One needs only to browse the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ in a a ı order to come across battle formations throughout the text, an observation that cannot be dismissed on account of Ferdows¯ poetic imagination. In fact, as ı’s opposed to considering the explicit information given on Sasanian battle formations in the conquest accounts as a mere topos, we should reckon it an extremely valuable tool for deciphering the identities of the leaders of the factions involved in the Sasanian war efforts at this crucial juncture of their history.881 The Sasanians kept records of their campaigns.882 To argue that the “credibility of these statements [—in which the names of the commanders, and their battle formations have been given in speciﬁc battles—] is . . . weakened by the occurrence of rhyming names such as Bandaway/T¯ ıraway,”883 is only to betray unfamiliarity, replete in studies of the late antique period, with the Iranian side of events. Bandaway, whose name is in fact misspelled to utter illegibility—easily rectiﬁed with reference to Justi’s Iranisches Namenbuch884 —was in fact Vind¯u yih. T¯ ıraway, that is T¯ uyih, is a theophoric name after one of the Yazatas ır¯ of the Iranian religious pantheon, T¯ And the sufﬁx -¯yih contained in the ır. u aforementioned names, as well as in others such as Sh¯ uyih and Gurd¯yih, is ır¯ u regularly used in Iranian names. Ironically, both Vind¯yih and T¯ uyih were u ır¯ historical ﬁgures and none other than the sons of the Parthian dynast Vist¯hm a of the Ispahbudh¯n family.885 They participated, quite logically and appropria ately, therefore, in the forces that were brought to the war front against the Arab armies by the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n dynastic family of Rustam.886 The fact that a Bandaway was named after his murdered uncle, Vind¯yih, in commemoration u
878 See the important article of Landua-Tasseron, Ella, ‘Features of the pre-Conquest Muslim Armies in the Time of Muhammad’, in The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East III: States, Re. sources and Armies, pp. 299–337, Princeton, 1995 (Landua-Tasseron 1995). 879 Shahbazi, Shapur, ‘Army: I. pre-Islamic’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 489–499, New York, 1991a (Shahbazi 1991a), pp. 489–499. Tafazzoli 2000, pp. 12–18, especially p. 15, where it is argued that the later structure of the Muslim armies were based on the military organizations of the Sasanians. 880 Shahbazi 1991a, pp. 494–499. 881 In fact, as it has been justiﬁably observed, one of the chief problems of the Sasanian army was that “the Persians placed too great a reliance on the presence of their leader: the moment the commander fell or ﬂed, his men gave way regardless of the course of action.” As we shall see, there were good reasons for this. Shahbazi 1991a, p. 498. 882 Shahbazi 1991a, pp. 498–499. 883 Noth 1994, p. 112. 884 Justi 1895. 885 Ibn al-Ath¯ Izz al-D¯ Al-K¯mil fi ’l-Ta r¯kh, Beirut, 1862, edited by C.J. Tornberg (Ibn alır, ın, a ı Ath¯ 1862), vol. 2, p. 436. See also page 187ff, as well as the genealogical tree of the Ispahbudh¯n ır a family on page 471. 886 As we will argue below on page 187, Rustam was a grandson of Vist¯hm’s brother Vind¯ yih. a u

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of this illustrious member of the family, makes perfect sense, and is not a ﬁgment of the imagination of the authors or the collectors of these traditions. The names of these ﬁgures rhyme because they use sufﬁxes prevalent in Iranian naming practice. 3.1.1 Fut¯ h u.

The superﬁcial incomprehensibility of this period of Sasanian history, 628–632 CE , is further confounded by the fact that a whole new genre of Islamic historiography professes to give historical accounts of events that presumably transpired shortly after this period, namely the fut¯h narratives.887 The Arab bias u. inherent in this genre of Islamic histories, one of the avowed purposes of which was to highlight the meritocracy of the Arab generals and tribes who undertook the Islamic conquests and established the Muslim polity, dominated the historiography of the early Islamic period and possibly even constructed the Arabist bias that dominates contemporary scholarship. As a result, while modern scholarship has been busy researching which Arab tribe at which juncture and for what purpose chose to participate—or did not actually participate—in which battles under the command of which Arab general,888 it has practically all but written off any effort in reconstructing some of the same, potentially analogous, variables for this period of Sasanian history from an Iranian perspective.889 In some very crucial sense the victors have managed to write the Iranian history of late antiquity.890 Our efforts in rectifying the skewed reconstruction of this period of Iranian history, however, will prove rewarding, for they will explicate not only the ultimate success of the Arab conquests of Sasanian territories and the dissolution of the Sasanian polity from the perspective
footnote 869. one is predominantly interested in constructing the political dimensions of early AraboIslamic history and polity, prosopography might very well be the only viable methodology at our disposal, as Crone has argued, and as both she and Donner—both also addressing the religious dimensions of the emerging polity—have successfully undertaken for early Islamic history. As one of Donner’s latest works on the subject emphasizes, the two approaches have more in common than meets the eye at ﬁrst sight. See Donner, Fred M., ‘Centralized Authority and Military Autonomy in the Early Islamic Conquest’, in Averil Cameron and Lawrence I. Conrad (eds.), The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, III: States, Resources and Armies, pp. 337–361, Princeton, 1995 (Donner 1995), p. 341 and n. 3; Crone 1980, especially p. 15; and Donner 1981, especially the appendices, pp. 357–438; Leder, Stefen, ‘The Literary Use of the Khabar’, in Averil Cameron and Lawrence I. Conrad (eds.), The Byzantine and Early Islamic Near East, I: Problems in Literary Source Material, pp. 277–317, Princeton, 1992 (Leder 1992), pp. 309–310. 889 In The Challenge to the Empires, admittedly, two diagrams seek to reconstruct the family tree of one of the Parthian dynastic families, the Ispahbudh¯n family, which we shall further study. a However, the commentaries provided for these family trees are so dismissive that they make these very charts superﬂuous. Tabar¯ 1993, pp. xxxi–xxxii. ı . 890 Our point of reference here is the interregnum period 628–632 and the conquest of Iran up until the 650s. Nöldeke’s investigation for the interregnum remains the last serious effort in this direction. Numerous other works that have dealt with this period from a general perspective will be cited as we proceed.
888 If 887 See

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of Iranian history,891 but also important aspects of the sociopolitical history of the northern and eastern quarters of Iran during the ﬁrst two post-conquest centuries.892 In assessing the reliability of the information provided by our sources about the events in Iran, however, an examination of the material at our disposal obliges us to unequivocally side with Noth’s assertion that the topic of Iran was one of the primary themes of early Arabic historical tradition. Noth argues justiﬁably that the information on Iran has been for the most part “connected with the theme of fut¯h in such a manner as to explain Muslim successes through u. Sasanian precedents, while at the same time identifying the fut¯h of Islam as the u. cause of certain developments in Iranian history.”893 The fut¯h narratives, primaru. ily those of Tabar¯ are based substantially on the traditions of Sayf b. Umar.894 ı, . All of the fut¯h accounts of this period of Iranian history contain a serious u.
891 The wealth of literature that has addressed this speciﬁc issue thus far has fallen short of arriving at a satisfactory answer. The contention that the Arab conquests can be explained in terms of the “fortuitous weakness of the Byzantines and Sasanians just when the Muslims began their expansion . . . [raise the question of] whether the mighty empires were not weaker in the eyes of the scholars bafﬂed by the astounding success of the conquests than they were in actual fact,” gives very little credit to what has been termed one of the greatest wars of late antiquity, that between the Byzantines and the Sasanians from 603–628 or the internal dynamics of either of these two empires during the previous centuries. Donner 1981, pp. 8–9. Kaegi 1992, passim. 892 We will provide in this study only a detailed political investigation of these two centuries for the Tabarist¯n region; see Chapter 4. a . 893 Noth 1994, p. 39. Emphasis mine. 894 We know next to nothing of the life of Sayf b. Umar, the compiler of early Islamic history, “except that he lived in Kufa . . . , probably belonged to the Usayyid clan,” of the Tam¯ tribe, and ım possibly died during the reign of H¯r¯n al-Rash¯ (170–193 AH/786–809 CE). We also know that au ıd medieval had¯th specialists denigrated him, considered his material as untrustworthy, and accused . ı him of being a zand¯k (see §5.2.5). Sayf in fact did not belong to their circle. Indeed most of the ı authorities to whom Sayf credits the source of his information are unknown ﬁgures of early Islamic history. Yet, as Blankenship argues, Sayf’s traditions “made an enormous impact on the Islamic historical tradition, especially because Tabar¯ chose to rely mainly on them for the events of 11 ı . [sic]–36 (632 [sic]–56), a period that spanned the reigns of the ﬁrst three caliphs and included all the conquests of Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Iran . . . The overwhelming bulk of [Tabar¯ material for this ı’s] . period is from Sayf.” In spite of his importance, and solitary efforts to the contrary notwithstanding, however, Sayf’s material remains one of the most maligned corpora of early Arabic histories. Blankenship, summing up the consensus of the medieval and modern muhaddith¯n, proclaims in u . his introduction to the volume on the conquest of Iraq and Syria, for example, that Sayf’s materials “belong more to the realm of historical romance than to that of history.” One internet blogger even maintained recently that if Sayf were to be resurrected, he would kill him! See Blankenship’s preface to Tabar¯ 1993, pp. xiii–xxx. Important exceptions to the negative scholarly assessments of ı . Sayf include Landua-Tasseron, Ella, ‘Sayf b. Umar in Medieval and Modern Scholarship’, Der Islam 67, (1990), pp. 1–26 (Landua-Tasseron 1990); Donner 1981, pp. 143–144, p. 303, n. 36, p. 306, n. 94, p. 317, n. 212, p. 319, n. 247, p. 333, n. 118, and p. 338, n. 179; Crone 1980, pp. 9–10, and p. 206, n. 51. Also see Donner, Fred M., ‘Sayf b. Umar’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007b (Donner 2007b) and Robinson, Chase, ‘The Conquest of Khuzist¯n: a Historiographical Reassessment’, Bulletin of a the School of Oriental and African Studies 68, (2004), pp. 14–39 (Robinson 2004), p. 38. As Donner maintains, “a deﬁnitive study of the historiographical complexities of all Sayf’s traditions remains an important desideratum.” The assessment of the present author of Sayf’s material will become amply clear at the conclusion of this chapter.

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problematic, however: their chronology. While Sayf, and the sources that follow him, provide signiﬁcant information about this period of Iranian history, 628–632 CE, they give these while detailing the initial conquest of Iraq, dated to the years 12–13 AH/633–634 CE, under the presumed command of Kh¯lid a b. Wal¯ and Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha. While current scholarship acknowledges ıd a .a the problematic nature of this chronology and, while all admit that the course and details of this initial stage of the conquest of Iran are hard to reconstruct, the basic chronology of this phase of the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia has been accepted as 12–13 AH/633–634 CE.895 The present study will offer a revised chronology for this crucial juncture of Middle Eastern history, the early Arab conquest of Iraq.896 While doing so, we shall not provide an exhaustive and critical survey of these conquests.897 In fact, we shall neither be dealing with a detailed itinerary of the conquests, nor the topography or sociopolitical context of the Mesopotamian society on the eve of the Arab conquest. Neither will we be concerned with the logistic of wars on either side. These have been addressed admirably by other scholars.898 As we shall see, however, if the postulates that we are offering are valid, they will have important implications for a number of crucial issues in those debates that address early Islamic history, especially those that concern chronology, but also those that address the causes of the conquests.899 With these debates, we shall not engage in the course of the pages that will follow, for all deserve independent studies on their own. Having provided this disclaimer, a number of general observations must, nevertheless, frame our subsequent analysis. 3.1.2 Revisiting Sayf’s dating

Three primary themes have been confounded in the histories of the early conquest of Iraq: the overriding themes of 1) the ridda (or wars of apostasy),900 2) the fut¯h,901 and 3) Iran.902 Sayf seems to have been the ﬁrst to have comu. bined these three themes. What complicates matters, however, is that secondary themes have been superimposed on these primary themes. The conquest narratives are arranged, especially in the works of Tabar¯ and other classical authors, ı .
895 Donner 1981, p. 173; Morony, Michael G., ‘Arab: II. Arab Conquest of Iran’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 203–210, New York, 1991 (Morony 1991), pp. 203–210. 896 See §3.3.2. 897 Nonetheless, for a tentative timeline, see Tables 6.1 and 6.2 on pages 468–469. 898 See most importantly Donner 1981, pp. 157–217, especially pp. 157–173; Morony, Michael G., Iraq After the Muslim Conquest, Princeton University Press, 1984 (Morony 1984), especially pp. 169– 431. 899 For a succinct overview of the state of the ﬁeld, see Donner 1981, pp. 3–9. For a brief discussion of these ramiﬁcations, see §3.5. 900 According to Islamic tradition, shortly after the Prophet’s death, presumably in 11/632, a number of nomadic and sedentary tribes left the fold of the recently established umma and apostatized. The term ridda refers to the series of battles undertaken in order to bring these back. For an alternative perspective, see our discussion on page 284. 901 Noth 1994, p. 29. 902 Noth 1994, pp. 28–33 and 39.

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which, in turn, are based predominantly on the traditions of Sayf and analogous sources, in both an annalistic fashion as well as according to the rule of particular caliphs, in this case Ab¯ Bakr and Umar.903 Now, as Noth notes, u the “original arrangement of the great majority of traditions collected” in the works of such authors as Tabar¯ could not have been the annalistic structure we ı, . currently possess. “The formula and in this year (wa f¯ h¯dhihi l-sanna / wa f¯h¯) ı a ı a does not belong to the [originally transmitted] text.”904 Collections of material arranged according to the rule of caliphs, also typical of the work of Tabar¯ and ı . others, moreover, appeared even later than the annalistic style in Islamic historiography,905 long after the conquest narratives were ﬁrst formulated. These annalistic and caliphal arrangements, as Noth observes, were secondary themes in this literature.906 Hijra calendar The problem of reconciling Sayf’s account of Iran for this period with his accounts of the early conquest of Iraq is further confounded by the fact that the annalistic style adopted in these reports is based on the hijra calendar.907 Now, as we know, a uniform chronology that was established with reference to the migration (hijra) of Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina (convention. ally dated to 622 CE) “was ﬁrst introduced under Umar in 16 AH/637 CE (the years 17 and 18 are also named).”908 As Noth observes, even several decades after Umar introduced this dating the “confusion that prevailed . . . and the arbitrary manner in which hijra dates were imposed in later times, is clear . . . [S]harp and irresolvable contradiction[s] . . . prevail . . . on not only dating, but even the order, of even the most central events in this history of the expansion of Islam.”909 This of course is a perfectly understandable situation given the limitations affecting the dissemination of information in the post-conquest
903 Noth perceptively maintained that both of these themes, the annalistic style and the caliphal arrangement, were secondary themes of the early Arabic historical tradition. Secondary themes, according to Noth, were all those themes that can be considered as offshoots of primary themes. These themes “are of no fundamental use in reconstructing what actually happened, however plausible and logical they may appear.” Noth 1994, pp. 39–48. As we shall see shortly, another important secondary theme is the hijra calendar. 904 Noth 1994, p. 43. 905 Noth 1994, p. 45. 906 Noth 1994, pp. 42–48. 907 As the hijra calendar is a lunar calendar without intercalary months, it is about 11 days shorter than a solar year as used in the Sasanian and Gregorian calendars. Since therefore 100 hijra years correspond roughly to 97 solar years, and since 1 AH corresponds to 622 CE, an approximate conversion between the two calendars is given by the formula CE = 621 + .97 ∗ AH (this formula is only correct for the ﬁrst few centuries AH, and even then only of course when ignoring the particular month of the year). 908 Noth 1994, p. 40 and n. 2. For the chronological uncertainties affecting crucial events in early Islamic history, also see Cook, Michael and Crone, Patricia, Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World, Cambridge University Press, 1977 (Cook and Crone 1977), pp. 4, 24, 157, n. 39; and Crone 1980, pp. 15, 212 and nn. 92, 93, 95 and 96. 909 Noth 1994, p. 41 and n. 7, and the references cited therein.

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centuries and given that “the Arabs in earliest Islamic times were for the most part unfamiliar with any formal chronological system.”910 How then is Sayf’s report on the early conquest of Iraq arranged? And what kind of relationship does this arrangement have with his account on the conditions prevailing in Iran in the period between 628–632 CE? In Sayf’s narratives, the early conquests of Iranian territories in Iraq are arranged according to both hijra dates and reigns of particular Sasanian kings or queens. Sayf’s account puts these during the caliphates of Ab¯ Bakr (632– u 634) and Umar (634–644), speciﬁcally during the years 12–13 AH/633–634 CE, that is, after the death of the Prophet in 632 CE. As Blankenship observes, Tabar¯ ı . devotes a major section of his work to only these two years of the conquest of the Fertile Crescent.911 What is more, the space devoted to the conquest of Iraq in this section of Tabar¯ is double that devoted to the conquest of Syria.912 ı . While major debates have surrounded crucial aspects of these conquests,913 and while substantive issues have been raised, thus far the investigations of this initial phase of the conquest of Iraq have adopted this hijra dating wholesale. Following Tabar¯ arrangement, this is how the translated volume of this secı’s . tion of Tabar¯ is organized, for example. For the most part, the chronology ı . of the accounts of these conquests—which include the battle of Madh¯r,914 the a battle of Walajah,915 the battle of Ayn Tamr,916 the battle of Fir¯d,917 the bata. tle of Nam¯riq,918 and ﬁnally the battle of Bridge919 (the former four dated by a Sayf to 12 AH/633 CE, and the latter two to 13 AH/634 CE)—as told by Tabar¯ ı, . through Sayf and other sources, have been followed in most of the secondary literature, their major ﬂaws being noted intermittently.920 The hijra chronology provided in the accounts of the fut¯h, however, occur u. side-by-side with a different set of chronological indicators, those of the rules of
1994, p. 41. comprises the whole of the translated volume, The Challenge to the Empires (Tabar¯ 1993, ı . de Goeje, 2016–2212). 912 Tabar¯ 1993, p. xiii. ı . 913 In this context we have to reckon, for example, with the fact that the traditions detailing Kh¯a lid b. Wal¯ participation in the conquest of Iraq might be spurious. Crone, Patricia, ‘Kh¯lid b. ıd’s a Wal¯ in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, p. 928a, New York, 1991a (Crone 1991a); ıd’, Tabar¯ 1993, p. 1., n. 2. ı . 914 Both Morony and Donner have argued for example that this battle seems to have taken place later. Based on this, Blankenship maintains that Madh¯r was “actually . . . conquered by Utbah b. a Ghazw¯n later, so that Sayf’s report here is chronologically improbable.” Morony 1984, pp. 127 and a 160; Donner 1981, p. 329, n. 66; Tabar¯ 1993, p. 15, n. 97. See also page 193ff below. ı . 915 See page 195ff. 916 See page 201ff. 917 See page 201ff. 918 See page 211ff. 919 See §3.3.5. 920 Zarrinkub, Abd al-Husayn, ‘Arab Conquest of Iran and its Aftermath’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 4, pp. 1–57, Cambridge University Press, 1975 (Zarrinkub 1975), pp. 1–57; Morony 1991, pp. 203–210; Donner 1981, pp. 157–217, especially p. 173.
911 This 910 Noth

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various Sasanian kings and queens given in the course of recounting these same conquest narratives. The acute problem confronting us a result of this juxtaposition is that the two sets of chronologies do not correspond to each other.921 Almost every war that Sayf attributes to the years 12 to 13 AH (633–634 CE), is systematically attached to the particular reign of a Sasanian king or queen, Sh¯ uır¯ yih Qub¯d (628), Ardash¯ III (628–630), Shahrvar¯z (630), B¯r¯ndukht (630– a ır a ua 632),922 Azarm¯ ıdukht (630–631), and Farrukh Hormozd (631), ending with the inception of the rule of Yazdgird III in 632, corresponding, therefore, to the years 8–11 hijra.923 That is, based on this alternative chronology, the striking fact is that these wars fall, not as it has been conventionally believed, following the hijra calendar, in the years 633–634 CE, but between 628 and 632 CE, when the Sasanian monarchy was engulfed in a factional strife spearheaded by its nobility. As we shall see, there is such a cogent internal logic between the conquest accounts of particular important battles and the events that transpired under the rule of speciﬁc Sasanian kings or queens associated with each of them, that these two traditions could never have been haphazardly juxtaposed next to each other by the original narrators of these events or the subsequent collectors of the traditions. Unlike the characteristic static dimensions of individual khabars (reports),924 furthermore, Sayf’s narrative provides us with temporal, and at times, spatial movement. Following this alternative, Sasanian-based chronology, then, these wars or raids would have taken place almost immediately after the Byzantine–Sasanian warfare, and during the period when the two empires were in the process of negotiating their peace treaty and attempting to implement the terms of it. This, for example,925 might explain the cooperation of the Byzantines and the Persians in the war that Sayf reports as Fir¯d—attached by him to the year 12 AH a. (633 CE)—when the Byzantines as well as the Persians became “hot and angry . . . and sought reinforcements from the Taghlib, Iy¯d and Namir,” and ena couraged each other to keep “[their] sovereignty in [their] own hands.”926 If we follow the Sasanian chronological indicators, therefore, this war took place not as reported by Sayf and traditionally accepted in 12 AH/633 CE,927 but after Ardash¯ III’s deposition and around the time when the Byzantines were incitır ing Shahrvar¯z to assume power, that is around 9 AH/630 CE, a period in which a

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921 While Greek, Syriac, Armenian, and Coptic sources have been used, unsuccessfully, in order to comparatively resolve these chronological inconsistencies, no examination of the Sasanian chronological indicators have thus far been undertaken. Noth 1994, p. 42. 922 For our revised chronology for this queen, see §3.3.4 below. 923 To avoid confusion, we will provide henceforth only a hijra date when it is pertinent to our discussion. 924 See footnote 934. 925 The following examples are only given as illustration, and will be discussed in more detail in their appropriate context below. 926 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 67, de Goeje, 2074. ı . 927 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 47, de Goeje, 2056. ı .

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Byzantine–Sasanian cooperation in fact would make perfect sense.928 Similarly, Hamza Isfah¯n¯ maintains, for example, that “the arrival of Kh¯a . . a ı lid b. Wal¯ in H¯ coincided with the regency of B¯r¯ndukht and 12 years ıd ua . ıra after the hijra . . . for B¯r¯ndukht’s regency took place toward the end of the ua caliphate of Ab¯ Bakr . . . [She ruled] three months in the period of Ab¯ Bakr u u and four months in the period of Umar.”929 Now, the chronological indicator of B¯r¯ndukht’s regency would put the arrival of Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ sometime ua a ıd in the years 629–631 CE, or possibly in 632 CE,930 during which period the cooperation of the Byzantines, the Arabs and the Iranians would still make sense. The chronological indicator equating the regency of B¯r¯ndukht with ua 12 years after the hijra . . . toward the end of the caliphate of Ab¯ Bakr [in 634 CE], u however, would throw the whole thing off, for clearly it was not B¯r¯ndukht ua who ruled in 634 CE, but Yazdgird III. How then can we possibly circumvent this and attempt to reconcile the two accounts, when faced with such blatant chronological confusion? An objective methodology warrants that the Sasanian chronological indicators given by Sayf be taken more seriously than his hijra dating. There are no legitimate reasons for ignoring these Sasanian chronological indicators.931 After all, the chronology of the rule of important Sasanian kings and queens during this period—for whom we even have numismatic evidence—although still problematic, is nevertheless comparatively far better established than the uncertain early hijra calendar superimposed post facto onto these narratives. Here, therefore, we have an independent chronological scheme against which we can gauge our hijra dating. There should be no reason, therefore, to dismiss Sayf’s often maintained, alternative chronological indicators which place these wars in the period between 628–632 CE. The inertia in tackling this question of chronology has been conditioned by an uncritical acceptance of what the fut¯h narratives u. promote as the ideological locomotive of these wars, namely, that these wars were driven by the presumed policies of the ﬁrst two Muslim caliphs after the death of the Prophet. The methodology we propose for tackling the chronological confusion that permeates the fut¯h narratives comprises a threefold scheme. First, in §3.2 and u.
928 See §3.2.3. Sayf’s contention that the Byzantines, Persians, and Arab tribes cooperated together in this war, and were defeated by Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ has therefore led Fück to argue that this is a dua ıd, bious piece of information. Fück, J.W., ‘Iy¯d’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van a Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007 (Fück 2007) apud Tabar¯ ı . 1993, p. 67, n. 383. According to our proposed revised chronology, however, Fück’s argument becomes moot, as we shall see. 929 Hamza Isfah¯n¯ Ta r¯kh Sinn¯ Mul¯k al-Ard wa ’l-Anbiy¯ , Beirut, 1961, edited by Yusuf Ya’qub ı ı u a . . . a ı, Maskuni (Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1961), p. 97, Hamza Isfah¯n¯ Ta r¯kh Sinn¯ Mul¯k al-Ard wa ’l-Anbiy¯ , ı ı u a . . . a ı . . a ı, Tehran, 1988, translation of Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1961 by Ja‘far Shi‘ar (Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1988), p. 115. . . a ı . . a ı 930 For B¯ r¯ndukht’s double regency, see §3.3, especially page 203ff, and §3.3.4, especially 210ff; ua for her dates based on a reassessment of the new and old numismatic evidence, see page 208ff. 931 At the very least, one ought to satisfactorily answer why some of these wars are so systematically and seemingly anachronistically attached to the rule of ephemeral Sasanian kings and queens of this period.

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the ﬁrst part of §3.3, we will collect the information on the conditions prevailing in Iran during the reign of the Sasanian kings and queens who ruled from the deposition of Khusrow II in 628 to the accession of Yazdgird III in 632 CE, from sources that have their purview outside the provenance of the early Arabic historical tradition and the fut¯h narratives.932 Then, starting in §3.3.2, we shall u. turn to Sayf’s account of the conquest. Here, we shall temporarily ignore the hijra dates provided by Sayf and other fut¯h literature on the early conquest of u. Iraq and Iran, as well as any information pertaining to Arab generals, and concentrate instead on the data given for the conditions prevailing in Iran in these same accounts. Here, in other words, we shall proceed from the assumption that the information provided by the fut¯h literature on Iran on this juncture u. of Sasanian history ought to be collected and examined as if it originated from a separate, independent corpus.933 Finally, we shall investigate how the information provided by Sayf in the course of his narrative on the early conquest of Iraq correlates with the Sasanian data of the same period that we had initially collected, in order to determine the internal logic of the information provided by Sayf. Based on this methodology, we shall conclude that, because Sayf’s information about internal Sasanian affairs in the context of his account of the early conquest of Iraq proves to be solid, these two sets of data, so systematically connected to each other, must, therefore, be interrelated. So much so that at some crucial junctures one set of events in fact explains the other. In the historical memory of the participants and early narrators of these events, these early conquests were so forcefully related to the conditions prevailing in Iran and to the reigns of speciﬁc Sasanian kings and queens of this period, that they inevitably maintained these connections.934 We shall conclude, therefore, that the events which Sayf systematically attaches to the rule of a particular Sasanian monarch did in fact transpire in that period and not at the hijra dates proposed by him. Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition a a In assessing the reliability of the information provided on Iran by Sayf for these crucial four years, 628–632, we are fortunate in that we are not simply conﬁned to the accounts of the conquest. Besides these we can resort to Persian and Arabic sources that have their provenance in the Xw ad¯y-N¯magtradition,935 fora a eign sources such as Sebeos—which probably are themselves based on Persian sources—and numismatic and sigillographic evidence. The fount of all of these sources, needless to say, is completely outside that of the fut¯h literature. A sepu. arate section of Tabar¯ details the accounts of the Sasanian dynasty including ı .
will discuss the nature of these sources shortly. this will only be a working hypothesis, for as we shall see, we do not believe this to be the case. 934 We are well aware that the information contained in the fut¯h narratives was originally collected u. as individual short khabars on the conquest of particular districts, cities, or regions. Noth 1994, p. 32. Also see Leder 1992. 935 See also our discussion on page 13.
933 Albeit 932 We

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those monarchs ruling during the period of our concern. As has been established during the past century, this section of Tabar¯ as well as all most other ı . sources dealing with this period of Iranian history, were most probably based on the various renditions of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition, and hence completely a a independent from the fut¯h literature.936 The Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition has its u. a a own problems, especially during these tumultuous years. Nevertheless, as we hope to show, the greater scheme of the events transpiring in Iran can be reconstructed with reference to these sources. The material provided by Sayf not only corroborates these outside sources, but also adds signiﬁcantly to the information contained in them. What we shall be attempting to do, in other words, is to ignore the artiﬁcial rupture that is contained within our sources, where the fut¯h literature is thought to have begun when the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition u. a a is reaching its end with the inception of Yazdgird III’s rule. The net effect of this rupture in our sources has created a situation in which it has been difﬁcult to understand the progression of the conquests in the context of the events that are transpiring in Iran itself during this period. Speciﬁcally, it has been hard to examine the successes and the failures of the Sasanian army against the Arabs during this period in the context of the alliances and rivalries unfolding within Iran.937 Once we have disentangled and streamlined the confusing narratives of the last quarter of a century of Sasanian history beginning with the murder of Khusrow II Parv¯ in 628, a major theme emerges. Although the bewildering array ız of personalities and groups do not seem to lend themselves at ﬁrst to any logical or systematic understanding, they actually partake in a quite comprehensible dynamic that bespeaks the course of Sasanian history: the struggle of the P¯rs¯ a ıg against the Pahlav. As we shall see, the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy ﬁnally exhausted itself in the last decades of Sasanian history. In this ﬁnal period of Sasanian history, a regional dynamic superimposed itself on all other contextual historical givens. The quarters of the north and the east, where the regional power of all the dynastic Parthian families thus far examined was concentrated,
936 Most of the narratives contained in this part of Tabar¯ opus do not contain a sanad, and the ı’s . three or so that do are attributed to Ikramah, Ibn Ish¯q, or Hish¯m b. Muhammad. See respectively, a .a . Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 324–327, de Goeje, 1005–1007; Tabar¯ 1999, p. 335, de Goeje, 1013; and Tabar¯ ı ı ı . . . 1999, p. 379, de Goeje, 1044. 937 Walter Kaegi reﬂects on a similar problem when dealing with the Arab conquests of Byzantine territories. Investigating the chronological or regional structures of the Arabic sources on the conquest of Byzantine territories, Kaegi observes that these “structures of organization have their value and of course without speciﬁc chronological references the task of the historian would be even more formidable.” He notes, however, that what “has been lost in all these narratives, irrespective of the reliability of the traditions that they report, is any understanding of the interrelationship and potential coherence of those events.” Kaegi further argues justiﬁably that “there is always the danger that coherence can be overemphasized . . . But the disconnected and fragmentary historical approach has tended, unconsciously, to obscure the inter-connections between the warfare and diplomacy in Syria and that of Egypt and Byzantine Mesopotamia.” Kaegi 1992, p. 13. The nature of the predicament of the Iranist investigating this juncture of Sasanian history is, therefore, quite analogous to that of the Byzantinist.

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ultimately ceded from those of the south and the west with the end result that the house of S¯s¯n, which so successfully had managed to link these regions aa together through the course of four centuries, was ﬁnally destroyed. There was order within the chaos of latter day Sasanian history. And while we do not claim to be able to explain this process in all of its sociopolitical complexities, and while we are cognizant of other crucial factors that affected this period of Sasanian history—of which the Sasanian wars against the Byzantines during Khusrow II’s reign surely take the lion’s share of the responsibility for explaining the economic and political exhaustion of the empire—it is the contours of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy and its ﬁnal collapse, that we shall attempt to elucidate. What then were the conditions prevailing in Iran at the outset of Khusrow II’s murder that moved the Parthian dynastic families to the ﬁnal dissolution of their confederacy with the Sasanian polity?

3.2

Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d and Ardash¯ III: the three armies ır¯ a ır

As explained previously, we shall begin our reconstruction of the interregnum period 628–632 using sources outside the fut¯h literature. The reader should u. anticipate that as a result of the particular methodology adopted, layers of information will become available on a piece-meal basis, the complete picture emerging only at the end of this chapter. 3.2.1 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d ır¯ a

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footnote 850. footnotes 308 and 838. 940 Sebeos 1999, p. 53. For Smbat Bagratuni, see §2.7.2. 941 For the Kan¯rang¯ an family’s agnatic background, see page 266ff. a ıy¯
939 See

938 See

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We recall that the deposition of Khusrow II and the appointment of his son Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d (628) to power was brought about by the collective conspirır¯ a acy of a number of very powerful dynastic factions. It is important to recall that except for the N¯ uz¯ faction led by Mihr Hormozd, who, probably beımr¯ ı longing to a branch of the S¯ren family,938 had adopted the title of P¯rs¯ 939 u a ıg, most other factions involved in overthrowing Khusrow II hailed from Parthian families: the Ispahbudh¯n, represented by the powerful scions of the dynasty, a Farrukh Hormozd, Farrukhz¯d and Rustam; a branch of the Mihr¯ns, under a a the leadership of Khusrow II’s ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z, Shahrvar¯z; ea a u e o a the Armenian faction, represented by the son of Smbat Bagratuni, Varaztirots‘ (Javitean Khosrov);940 and ﬁnally the Kan¯rang¯ an.941 The Iranian forces had a ıy¯ at this point also broken up, we recollect, in three distinct armies: the army of Azarb¯yj¯n under the leadership of Farrukh Hormozd; the occupation army of a a Shahrvar¯z; and the army of N¯ uz, what Sebeos calls the army of Persia and a ımr¯ the East, under the leadership of Mihr Hormozd. Before we proceed with the story of the Sasanians during this turbulent period, a word of caution is in order. In line with their monarchical bias, the

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sources at our disposal attribute substantial powers to the short-lived monarchs who ruled Iran from the deposition of Khusrow II onward. As the pendulum of Sasanian history had now swung in favor of the dynastic families, however, this was rarely the case, and certainly not for Khusrow II’s successor, Sh¯ uyih ır¯ Qub¯d. Sebeos and some of the accounts based on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition a a a make it appear as though Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d held a great deal of power. The peace ır¯ a treaty with Heraclius and the termination of the hostilities with Byzantium are both attributed to his actions.942 The appointment of Varaztirots‘, the son of Smbat Bagratuni, as the tanut¯r of Iranian-controlled Armenia, where he ene listed the support of some of the other Armenian factions, is also attributed to Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d.943 Some Arabic sources based on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition ır¯ a a a even depict Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d as a despot and, tangentially, as a womanizer.944 ır¯ a In order to drive home the latter aspect of the king’s personality, Ferdows¯ inı cludes an account of how Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d attempted to woo Sh¯ ın, the favorite ır¯ a ır¯ wife of his father, Khusrow II Parv¯ into marrying him.945 ız, Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d might very well have been a womanizer. It is doubtful, ır¯ a however, that a king who was brought to power by the collective conspiracy of the dynastic families, had any substantial power at his disposal. The peace treaty with Heraclius was, as we have seen, instigated by Shahrvar¯z and the a Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd.946 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, in fact, was born ır¯ a to Khusrow II through Maryam, the Byzantine emperor’s daughter.947 It might very well have been the case, therefore, that in their selection of Sh¯ uyih Quır¯ b¯d as king, the factions also considered the young king’s Byzantine connection. a The support of the Armenian Varaztirots‘, moreover, was also most certainly made with the understanding that Varaztirots‘ would continue to function as the tanut¯r of Armenia under the new king. Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s acquiescence to e ır¯ a this expectation was most probably already written into his promotion to the throne. Sh¯r¯yih Qub¯d’s minister F¯r¯z¯n ıu a ıu a Ferdows¯ in fact, graphically portrays the powerlessness of the youthful Sh¯ uı, ır¯ yih Qub¯d in the hands of the nobility. He depicts him as being frightened and a inexperienced (tarsandih o kh¯m). When the dynastic factions had pressured a Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d into killing his father, Khusrow II, the king was acting “like a ır¯ a
1999, pp. 84–85. to Sebeos the “king Kawat [i.e., Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d] summoned Varaztirots‘, son of ır¯ a Smbat Bagratuni, called Khosrov Shum, and gave him the ofﬁce of tanut¯r. He made him marzpan e [marzb¯n], and sent him to Armenia with [authority over] all his ancestral possessions in order to a keep in prosperity.” Sebeos 1999, pp. 86–87. Sebeos in fact equates the ofﬁce of tanut¯r with the e title Khosrov-Shum (Khusrow Shen¯m). Ibid., p. 49. u 944 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 728, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 463. a ı a ı 945 This queen Sh¯ ın, probably of Armenian descent, is also the main character in the medieval ır¯ romance of Sh¯r¯n and Farh¯d, where this time her suitor, Farh¯d, was an architect at Khusrow II ıı a a Parv¯ court. N¯ am¯ Ganjav¯ Khusrow o Sh¯r¯n, London, 1844, edited N. Bland (N¯ am¯ 1844). ız’s ız¯ ı, ı, ıı ız¯ ı 946 See page 149ff. 947 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, pp. 197–198, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2857. ı ı
943 According 942 Sebeos

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slave in their pawns,” fearful of disobeying their collective order.948 Whereas, as we have seen, one set of traditions, including Ferdows¯ depicts the Pahlav dyı’s, nast Z¯d Farrukh (Farrukhz¯d) as the primary instigator of both Khusrow II’s a a deposition and Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s promotion, and hence as the one in control ır¯ a of the young king,949 other sources emphasize the role of a Fayr¯z, F¯ uz¯n, u ır¯ a or P¯ uz, as he is variously called. Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s murder of seventeen of ır¯ ır¯ a his brothers, for example, is said to have been instigated by this same F¯ uz¯n, ır¯ a called the minister of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d by Tabar¯ 950 The Nih¯yat also belongs ır¯ a ı. a . to the set of traditions which maintain that F¯ uz ran state affairs under Sh¯ ır¯ ır¯yih Qub¯d.951 In the Sh¯hn¯ma, he is called P¯ uz Khusrow, and is depicted u a a a ır¯ as the commander of the army.952 The identity of this F¯ uz¯n is crucial for ır¯ a understanding the subsequent events. For now it is sufﬁcient to note that this F¯ uz¯n, belonging to the same camp as the N¯ uz¯ as we shall see, ultimately ır¯ a ımr¯ ıs, assumed leadership of the P¯rs¯ 953 The factions responsible for bringing down a ıg. Khusrow II Parv¯ therefore, continued to take charge of affairs during the rule ız, of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d. ır¯ a
948 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 280, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2933: ı
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§2.7.6. 1879, pp. 381–382, Nöldeke 1979, p. 542. This F¯ uz¯n collaborated with a certain ır¯ a Shamt¯, one of the sons of Yazd¯ “the ofﬁcial in charge of [the collection of the] land tax . . . ın, .a from the entire lands.” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 398, de Goeje, 1061. Bosworth notes that Nöldeke had ı . identiﬁed Yazd¯ from the Syriac sources as Khusrow II’s treasurer Yazd¯ Thomas of Marg¯ın ın. a described Shamt¯ as the “real driving force behind the conspiracy to dethrone the Khusrow II.” .a As we have seen thus far, however, the conspiracy that led to the overthrow of Khusrow II Parv¯ ız involved far too many factions and was far too long in the making to have been instigated by a single individual. Nevertheless a question posed by Bosworth is worth pursuing, namely whether this Yazd¯ is the same ﬁgure mentioned by Sebeos as the governor of Armenia under Khusrow ın II Parv¯ Considering the Armenian faction’s direct involvement in the overthrow of Khusrow II, ız. this is by no means unlikely. Tabar¯ 1999, p. 398, n. 980, de Goeje, 1061. ı . 951 He is referred to as Barmak b. F¯ uz in the Nih¯yat. Nihayat 1996, p. 438: ır¯ a
950 Nöldeke
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949 See

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In Bal am¯ account, Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s minister is called F¯ uz (F¯ uz¯n) and considered the ı’s ır¯ a ır¯ ır¯ a ancestor of the Barmakids. This tradition is most probably spurious for the ancestors of the Barmakids were likely either Zoroastrian high priests, or Buddhist chiefs of the Nowbah¯r temple in a Balkh. The tradition, however, even if forged, and especially if forged, is nevertheless extremely signiﬁcant, for it testiﬁes to the continued currents of consciousness of P¯rs¯ identity through the a ıg eighth century and thereafter. The Barmakids also held the governorship of F¯rs, and it might have a been in this region that this ancestral pedigree was attached to them. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 253. For the ı Barmakids, see Abbas, I., ‘Barmakids’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 806–809, New York, 1991 (Abbas 1991). 952 According to Ferdows¯ B¯ r¯ndukht killed a P¯ uz Khusrow, which therefore this time cannot ı, u a ır¯ be F¯ uz¯n, as he only died around 642 at the battle of Nih¯vand (see page 241ff). Ferdows¯ 1971, ır¯ a a ı pp. 305–306. 953 For more details on F¯ uz¯n, see page 196 below. ır¯ a

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§3.2: S HIRUYIH AND A RDASHIR The Byzantine–Sasanian peace treaty Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s powerlessness is also apparent in the decision-making proır¯ a cess that led to the Byzantine–Sasanian peace treaty, bringing thirty years of warfare to an end.954 As we have seen and shall further elaborate upon, our evidence suggests that the peace treaty between the Persians and the Byzantines was concluded not only as the result of an understanding reached by Shahrvar¯z and Heraclius, but also with the cooperation of Farrukh Hormozd and his a sons Rustam and Farrukhz¯d, who, at this juncture of Sasanian history, proba ably represented all the factions, including the N¯ uz¯ faction.955 As in later ımr¯ ı periods,956 all the contextual evidence at our disposal highlights the fact that the Prince of the Medes was involved in the negotiations that resulted in the peace proposals of 629. We should recall that during the third phase of the Byzantine–Sasanian war,957 Heraclius’ army had overrun the territories of the Prince of the Medes (Farrukh Hormozd) in 624. When in 8 April 628, the Sasanian king Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d is said to have dispatched a letter proposing peace ır¯ a to the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, the latter was encamped in Gandzak, the territory of the Prince of the Medes in Azarb¯yj¯n.958 A peace treaty with the a a Byzantines now in partial control of his territories suited therefore the purposes of Farrukh Hormozd admirably. It took a while, however, to effect Shahrvar¯z’s agreement to the peace a treaty. For as Sebeos informs us, when Shahrvar¯z was “ordered [ostensibly a by Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d to] collect his troops, come back to Persia, and abandon ır¯ a Greek territory . . . [the latter] did not wish to obey that order.”959 According to Kaegi, it was in all probability only after Heraclius met with Shahrvar¯z in a July 629, that the latter agreed to withdraw his forces.960 Shahrvar¯z’s initial a
954 Sebeos’ account hints as much. For, prior to making peace, the king took “council with the nobles of his kingdom.” Sebeos 1999, p. 85. 955 Sebeos 1999, p. 107. Howard–Johnston takes Sebeos’ account at face value. Ibid., pp. 222–223. 956 The intimate relations between the Prince of the Medes and the Byzantines is, in fact, specifically highlighted for later periods. In describing the coalition that was being formed in 642–643 between the Byzantines, the Armenians, and the Ispahbudh¯n, Sebeos informs us that in his caa pacity as the successor to his father the Prince of the Medes (Farrukh Hormozd), Farrukhz¯d had a already made a pact with the Byzantine emperor Constans II (Constantine, 641–668), the grandson of Heraclius, who had become the new emperor of Byzantium. The newly appointed governor of Armenia, Tu‘mas “did not wish to break the pact between the emperor and the [son of the] Prince of the Medes. He brought all the princes [of Armenia] into agreement with himself, went to the [son of the] Prince of the Medes and made peace proposals to him. He received from him many gifts, and promised him with an oath that he would have T‘¯odoros brought in bonds to the e palace, because he was the prince of Armenia.” Sebeos 1999, p. 107. We should add here that the epithet Prince of the Medes is applied by Sebeos also to other members of the family, as it is here to Farrukhz¯d (Kho˙okhzat). a r 957 See page 149ff. 958 Sebeos 1999, p. 222. 959 Sebeos 1999, p. 86. 960 The True Cross, the relic believed to be the cross upon which Jesus was cruciﬁed, was taken as a trophy to Khusrow II in 614. Its return to Jerusalem on 21 March 630, after the peace agreement with Shahrvar¯z, therefore, only took place toward the end of the reign of Ardash¯ III. Kaegi 1992, a ır

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refusal to abide by this peace treaty indicates that, while his army was still in the western war-ridden territories, the affairs of the kingdom were conducted not only by F¯ uz¯n and the army of N¯ uz, but also by the Ispahbudh¯n ır¯ a ımr¯ a Farrukh Hormozd and the army of Azarb¯yj¯n. Being absent from the center, a a it was this collaboration that must have been worrisome to Shahrvar¯z. a Heraclius, cognizant of the rivalries among the dynastic families, took full advantage of the situation, for he played the two important factions, the Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z and the Ispahbudh¯n Farrukh Hormozd, against one another. a a a Upon the death of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d in 628, Heraclius wrote to Shahrvar¯z, ır¯ a a whose armies were still in control of substantial sections of Byzantine territory: Now that the Iranian king is dead, “the throne and the kingdom has come to you. I bestow it on you, and on your offspring after you. If an army is necessary,961 I shall send to your assistance as many [troops] as you may need.”962 This gesture persuaded Shahrvar¯z. For in the face of Farrukh Hormozd and a the S¯ an¯ contingent’s alliance, a collaboration between the Byzantine emıst¯ ı peror and Shahrvar¯z was a necessity. Howard–Johnston, while dismissing any a prior understanding between Heraclius and Shahrvar¯z in 626 as political proa paganda articulated by the Byzantines,963 maintains that that was no longer the case in the events that transpired at the end of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s reign, for by ır¯ a “629 . . . both Heraclius and Sharvaraz had compelling reasons for reaching an accommodation.”964 What were these compelling reasons for both sides? Heraclius’ predicament was clear enough. Shahrvar¯z was the commander-in-chief of a the actual occupation forces in control of substantial sections of the Byzantine territory.965 Shahrvar¯z, on the other hand, was very well aware that his faction was a only one of the factions side-by-side of the Ispahbudh¯n, the N¯ uz¯ the Ara ımr¯ ı, menians, and the Kan¯rang¯ an that had participated in deposing Khusrow II a ıy¯ Parv¯ As the two traditions discussed above bear witness, moreover, durız. ing Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s rule, the Ispahbudh¯n with their army of Atrapatkan ır¯ a a
pp. 66 and 67 respectively. 961 Heraclius probably realized that Shahrvar¯z’s army on its own could not reckon with the a combined forces of the army of Azarb¯yj¯n and the army of N¯ uz. a a ımr¯ 962 Sebeos 1999, p. 88. 963 The “allegation [contained in Chronique de Seert, Tabar¯ and Dionysius] should probably be ı . rejected as a piece of deliberate disinformation, circulated to further Roman interests as the war reached a climax in 627–628 CE.” Sebeos 1999, p. 223. 964 Sebeos 1999, p. 223. 965 As the peace treaty between the Byzantine emperor and the Mihr¯nid dynast makes clear, a these included the territories of Jerusalem, Caesaria in Palestine, all the regions of Antioch, Tarsus in Cilicia, and the greater part of Armenia. Sebeos 1999, p. 224. It is extremely noteworthy that in the stipulations of the terms of this treaty Shahrvar¯z was not willing to abandon all the advantages a that the Sasanian forces of Khusrow II had gained in the course of the war. According to Howard– Johnston, “Chronique de Seert 724 states unequivocally that the Euphrates was recognized as the frontier between them, implying thereby that Shahrvaraz had insisted on retaining some of the territory beyond the traditional post-387 frontier which he and his troops had conquered, that is, the Roman provinces of Mesopotamia and Osrhoene which lay east of the Euphrates (with their principal cities, Amida and Edessa).” Sebeos 1999, p. 224.

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(Azarb¯yj¯n) and the N¯ uz¯ faction of F¯ uz¯n had forged an alliance under a a ımr¯ ı ır¯ a the leadership of the powerful and towering ﬁgure of the Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd. Hence, as Howard–Johnston explains, “Sharvaraz needed to strengthen his position now that he was at odds with the government in Ctesiphon.”966 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d managed to stay in power for six to seven months ır¯ a only. Tabar¯ does not give an account of how he met his demise.967 In anticipaı . tion of our examination of the fut¯h narratives, and jumping ahead of our story u. for a moment, we should underline at this point that the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traa a dition provides a crucial piece of information about the aftermath of Sh¯ uyih ır¯ Qub¯d’s death. According to Tha ¯lib¯ when the puppet king died, “enemies a a ı, were on the march, and from the Arab [regions] strong winds were blowing . . . Shahrvar¯z also started rebelling and conquered some of the cities in Byzana tium and his affairs grew strong.”968 According to Tha ¯lib¯ therefore, at the a ı, death of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d in 628, when the child king Ardash¯ III (628–630) ır¯ a ır was elevated to kingship, the Arabs, too, were on the move against the Sasanian empire. D¯ ınawar¯ also furnishes us with a chronology that closely corresponds ı to Tha ¯lib¯ For according to D¯ a ı’s. ınawar¯ when B¯r¯ndukht assumed power, to ı, ua be discussed shortly, and the news reached the Arabs that there were no kings left to the Persians, who therefore had resorted to a woman, Muthann¯ b. H¯a .a ritha from H¯ and Muqarrin from Ubullah, together with their tribe Bakr . ıra b. W¯ il, began attacking the Persian realm.969 The promotion of B¯r¯ndukht a ua to regency, as we shall see further, however, actually started in 630 CE.970 3.2.2 Ardash¯ III ır

The next Sasanian king, Ardash¯ III (628–630), son of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, was ır ır¯ a only a child, by some accounts seven years of age, when he was placed upon the Sasanian throne. On his coinage he is distinctly portrayed as a child.971 Considering his youth, it is clear that his appointment was a symbolic act meant only to ensure the presence of a Sasanian ﬁgure on the throne of the kingdom. It goes without saying that the child king’s actual power during this period must have inhered in one or another of the factions. Our evidence indicates that the same factions which had brought Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d to power, especially those ır¯ a
1999, p. 231. Emphasis added. notes that according to Ibn Qutaybah and Ibn al-Ath¯ the king ultimately died ır, from a plague that had spread through the war-ridden territories of Iraq at this juncture (for which see §3.3.2 below), while Theophanes claims that the king was poisoned. Tabar¯ 1999, p. 399. n. 984. ı . 968 Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 465. a ı 969 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 111, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 121. According to D¯ ı ınawar¯ throughout the ı, caliphate of Ab¯ Bakr (633–634), Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha attacked the Saw¯d from various corners. u a a .a D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 112, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 123. ı 970 See §3.3.4. 971 Nöldeke 1879, p. 386, n. 1, Nöldeke 1979, p. 584, n. 145; Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 731: a ı
967 Bosworth
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For further references for his coinage, see Tabar¯ 1999, p. 401, n. 990. ı .

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of the Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd, and of the P¯rs¯ promoted a ıg, and—for a while at least—sustained Ardash¯ III’s regency.972 ır Ardash¯r III’s minister M¯h¯dharjushnas ı a a One set of narratives maintains, that the minister “in charge of the child’s upbringing and carrying the administration of the kingdom” during Ardash¯ III’s ır ¯ reign was one Mih Adhar Jushnas or M¯h¯dharjushnas,973 who apparently was a a also a cousin of Khusrow II.974 According to Tabar¯ M¯h¯dharjushnas “carı, a a . ried on the administration of the kingdom in [such] an excellent fashion, [and with such] . . . ﬁrm conduct . . . [that] no one would have been aware of Ardash¯ III’s youthfulness.”975 Other sources such as the Sh¯hn¯ma, however, single ır a a out a ﬁgure called P¯ uz Khusrow. It was to P¯ uz Khusrow that the child king ır¯ ır¯ supposedly relegated the control of his army.976 Tha ¯lib¯ identiﬁes this ﬁga ı ure as Khusrow F¯ uz and maintains that he was in charge of all of the king’s ır¯ affairs.977 There is very little doubt that P¯ uz Khusrow of Ferdows¯ and Khusır¯ ı row F¯ uz of Tha ¯lib¯ are none other than Tabar¯ Fayr¯z¯n (F¯ uz¯n), Sh¯ ır¯ a ı ı’s u a ır¯ a ı. r¯yih Qub¯d’s minister responsible for instigating the king’s fratricide.978 The u a two sets of narratives, therefore, betray, yet again, two separate founts of historical provenance: a P¯rs¯ and a Pahlav, for we will presently see that F¯ uz¯n and a ıg ır¯ a M¯h¯dharjushnas, respectively, each belong to one of these factions continuing a a to sustain Ardash¯ III’s kingship. ır 3.2.3 Shahrvar¯z’s insurgency a

A while into Ardash¯ III’s reign, Shahrvar¯z rebelled against the child-king ır a under the pretext that “the great men of the state had not consulted him about
972 Agreeing with Flusin’s dating of the event, Johnston maintains that “Shahrvar¯z must have a exercised power initially as regent for the young Artashir, since his execution of the boy and his own ascent onto the throne took place on 27 April 630, after Artashir had reigned one year and six months.” Sebeos 1999, p. 224. None of our Arabic or Persian sources contain any reference to this. 973 Justi 1895, p. 354. 974 According to Tabar¯ this ﬁgure “held the ofﬁce of high steward of the table (ri ¯sat ash¯b al-m¯ı a a ..a . idah).” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 400, de Goeje, 1061. Ibn al-Ath¯ calls him M¯h¯dharjushnas (appearing in ı ır a a . the text mistakenly as Bah¯dur Jusnas). Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 1, p. 498. Ya q¯bi 1969, vol. 1, p. 196, a ır u Ya q¯bi, Ahmad b. Ab¯ Ya q¯b, Ta r¯kh, Shirkat-i intish¯r¯t-i Ilm¯ va Farhang¯ 1983, translation of u ı u ı aa ı ı, . Ya q¯bi 1969 (Ya q¯bi 1983), pp. 213–214. The F¯rsn¯ma also calls him M¯h¯dharjushnas and gives u u a a a a him the title at¯bak. Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 261. Bal am¯ calls him Mihr Has¯ clearly a typographical a ı ı . ıs, error, and maintains that he was killed by Shahrvar¯z. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 256. a ı 975 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 400, de Goeje, 1061. ı . 976 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 294: ı
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977 Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, a ı

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§3.2: S HIRUYIH AND A RDASHIR C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

raising Ardash¯ III to the throne.”979 According to Ibn Balkh¯ Shahrvar¯z ır ı, a reprimanded M¯h¯dharjushnas for not consulting him.980 Alone, however, his a a army could not have withstood the combined forces of the N¯ uz¯ and the ımr¯ ı Pahlav.981 He needed therefore to break the bonds of the recently established alliance. And so, he approached the leaders of the P¯rs¯ and forged an alliance a ıg with the N¯ uz¯ 982 Along with 6,000 men from among the Persian army on ımr¯ ıs. the Byzantine frontier, Shahrvar¯z set out for the capital of the Sasanian king.983 a Together with Nöldeke, Bosworth notes that “it was indicative of the chaos and weakness into which the Persian state had fallen that such a modest force was able to take over the capital and secure power for Shahrbar¯z himself.”984 The a point, however, is that the army of the Persian state had already divided into three factions in the midst of the events that led to Khusrow II’s deposition. We recall that the Byzantine emperor had in fact encouraged Shahrvar¯z to a mutiny and had promised him backup forces if he needed them.985 M¯h¯dhara a jushnas, confronted by the eminent arrival of Shahrvar¯z and his army, took a charge of protecting the king and the Sasanian capital. The conspiratorial atmosphere is reﬂected in an anecdote relayed by Tabar¯ When Shahrvar¯z’s army ı. a . besieged the capital, it was unable to gain entry. In need of help, the aspiring Mihr¯nid made recourse to a ruse. “He kept inciting a man named N¯w Khusa e row, who was the commander of Ardash¯ III’s guard, and N¯md¯r Jushnas,986 ır a a the isbabadh (ispahbud, sp¯hbed) of N¯ uz, to treachery, until the two of them a ımr¯ . opened the gates of the city to Shahrbar¯z.”987 Surely, N¯md¯r Jushnas, the sp¯ha a a a bed of N¯ uz, and N¯w Khusrow, the commander of Ardash¯ III’s guard, had ımr¯ e ır more important affairs on their hands than to open single-handedly the gate of the city for a besieging army. Potentially, N¯w Khusrow (the heroic Khusrow) e is most probably a substitute for P¯ uz Khusrow (the victorious Khusrow), and ır¯ hence was none other than F¯ uz¯n, the leader of the P¯rs¯ Ferdows¯ clearly ır¯ a a ıg. ı portrays his power, when he writes of P¯ uz Khusrow (F¯ uz¯n): “whether ır¯ ır¯ a young warriors or old warrior paladins, all were the cohorts of him.”988 In
p. 400, de Goeje, 1062. Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 295, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2946. ı ı Balkh¯ 1995, p. 261. ı 981 Realizing this, Shahrvar¯z exclaimed, according to Ferdows¯ that “the king may have many a ı, designs, but his affairs are in control of another army.” Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 295, n. 11, ı Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2227: ı
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pp. 400–401, de Goeje, 1062. Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2946. ı . p. 401, de Goeje, 1062. . 984 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 400, n. 989. ı . 985 See footnote 961. 986 Most certainly a different personage than M¯h¯dharjushnas, as will become apparent in the a a remainder of the story. 987 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 401, de Goeje, 1062. Emphasis added. ı . 988 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 298, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2948: ı ı
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page 155ff. page 157ff. 991 See footnote 411. 992 See §2.5.4. 993 See page 149ff.
990 See

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any case, the ﬁgures of N¯w Khusrow and N¯md¯r Jushnas are meant only to e a a represent collectively the armies at their disposal, made up of the N¯ uz¯ and ımr¯ ı P¯rs¯ factions, what Sebeos had called the “army of Persia and the East.”989 a ıg Incidentally, Tabar¯ narratives on the depositions of Khusrow II Parv¯ ı’s ız . and Ardash¯ III compliment one another. Mard¯nsh¯h,990 mentioned in the ır a a conspiracy against Khusrow II, was a p¯dh¯sp¯n991 of N¯ uz, while in the a u a ımr¯ mutiny against Ardash¯ III, N¯md¯r Jushnas appears as the sp¯hbed of the reır a a a gion. There remains a discrepancy, however, insofar as Shahrvar¯z’s seals also a identify him as the sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z under Khusrow II.992 This a u e o anomaly can be easily explained, however, if we consider that Shahrvar¯z had a already mutinied against Khusrow II toward the end of his reign,993 leaving the latter ample time to dispossess his general from his post. Besides, the unsettled conditions after Khusrow II was deposed were perfectly amenable to a N¯ uz¯ ımr¯ ı faction assuming the title of sp¯hbed, if the title in fact meant anything during a this tumultuous period of Sasanian history. As the previous ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of ea a the quarter of the south (k¯st-i n¯mr¯z), moreover, Shahrvar¯z had presumably u e o a come to collaborate intimately with the P¯rs¯ during his tenure. a ıg So, once again, the Pahlav were divided in their promotion of a Sasanian king. Moreover, the fate of the Sasanian monarch Ardash¯ III was decided ır by the complicity of at least two of the three armies of the realm: the army of Persia and the East under the control of the sp¯hbed N¯md¯r Jushnas of N¯ uz a a a ımr¯ in collaboration with the P¯rs¯ leader F¯ uz¯n; and Shahrvar¯z’s army. Having a ıg ır¯ a a seized the capital of the Sasanians, Shahrvar¯z seized a number of leading men a and, appropriating their wealth, put them to death, along with the seven year old king. Among these was M¯h¯dharjushnas, the minister who had assumed a a the responsibility of raising and protecting the young king. Thus, in 630, the N¯ uz¯ faction collaborated with Shahrvar¯z to topple the child Ardash¯ III. ımr¯ ı a ır There then transpired an event that had only two other precedents in the four hundred years of Sasanian history, the accession of a non-Sasanian to the throne. Having deposed Ardash¯ III, with the complicity of the army of Persia ır and the East, the Parthian Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z crowned himself king on 27 a a April 630. What is perhaps the most signiﬁcant aspect of Shahrvar¯z’s coroa nation, however, is that together with the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and the a a u ın Ispahbudh¯n Vist¯hm, he became the third Parthian dynast to claim Sasanian a a a a ı kingship. The Xw ad¯y-N¯mag narrative in Tabar¯ cloaks the Sasanian legitimist . perspective on the sacrilege of having a non-Sasanian on the throne in the garb of an anecdote that highlights the usurper’s illegitimacy. As Shahrvar¯z was a not from the “royal house of the kingdom . . . when he sat down on the royal

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throne, his belly began to gripe, and this affected him so violently that he had no time to get to a latrine, hence he [swiftly] called for a bowl . . . had it set down before the throne, and relieved himself in it.”994 Bosworth notes that this story “is meant to heighten the enormity of Shahrbar¯z’s temerity and his saca rilege by sitting down on the royal throne when he was not from the royal houses of the Arsacids or the Sasanians.”995 In fact, prior to the discovery of the seal of P¯ ırag-i Shahrvar¯z, on which he a insisted on his dynastic afﬁliation as a Mihr¯nid, and prior to our identiﬁcation a of this seal as belonging to the towering ﬁgure of Shahrvar¯z,996 while his nona Sasanian descent was acknowledged, his gentilitial background remained unclear. Now however, we have a better understanding of Sasanian history from the late sixth century onward: a number of processes, including the reforms of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an and the policies of his son Hormozd IV, violently ırv¯ disrupted the confederacy of the Parthians with the Sasanians with the effect that, in the span of only four decades, from the 590s to 630, three Parthian dynasts had claimed the Sasanian throne: Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ from the Mihr¯n,997 a u ın a Vist¯hm from the Ispahbudh¯n,998 and Shahrvar¯z from the Mihr¯n. This, a a a a however, is not the end of the Parthian aspiration to Sasanian kingship, as we shall see shortly.999 To belong to the Parthian dynastic families, to have a substantial and loyal army, and to uphold Sasanian kingship through their confederation with the house of S¯s¯n was one thing. To usurp the title Sh¯hansh¯h, King of Kings, aa a a however, was, yet again, an altogether different story. The predicament of the Parthians throughout Sasanian history, after all, had always been their agreement to Sasanian kingship. To add insult to injury, upon usurping the throne, Shahrvar¯z murdered many of the elite, among them M¯h¯dharjushnas.1000 The a a a resulting opposition meant that Shahrvar¯z’s rule would also be short-lived, a lasting a total of only forty days, from 27 April to his murder on 9 June 630.1001 Who then was responsible for the murder of the Parthian Shahrvar¯z? a In Tabar¯ account the actual murder of Shahrvar¯z is attributed to one ı’s a . Fus Farrukh, the son of M¯h Khursh¯ an.1002 In Bal am¯ account this ﬁgure is a ıd¯ ı’s a called Saqr¯kh, which is clearly a scribal error for Fus Farrukh.1003 In Tha ¯liu b¯ narrative the name of this ﬁgure is given as Hormozd-i Is.takhr¯ together ı’s ı; .
p. 402, de Goeje, 1063. . p. 402, n. 991. . 996 See §2.5.4. 997 See §2.6.3. 998 See §2.7.1. 999 See page 205ff below. 1000 Rendered in Bal am¯ as Mihr Has¯ as we have seen. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 256. ı ı . ıs, 1001 Nöldeke 1879, p. 433, Nöldeke 1979, p. 641. 1002 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 402, and n. 992, de Goeje, 1063. ı . 1003 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 258. The ﬁrst letter ﬁh in Fus Farrukh is dropped whereas a dot is added to the ı second ﬁh of the name, turning it into the letter gh¯f. a
995 Tabar¯ 1999, ı 994 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

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with his army, he besieged Shahrvar¯z, defeated and killed him.1004 Ibn Balkh¯ a ı calls him Pusfarrukh and maintains, signiﬁcantly, that he was put in charge of killing Shahrvar¯z by B¯r¯ndukht.1005 According to Tabar¯ “two of his brotha ua ı, . ers were roused to great anger at Shahrbar¯z’s killing of Ardash¯ III and his a ır seizure of royal power.”1006 Fus Farrukh and his brothers were joined by a ﬁgure called Z¯dh¯n Farrukh-i Shahrd¯r¯n, as well as “a man called M¯hy¯y (?), who a a aa a a was the instructor of the cavalrymen (mu addib al-as¯wira). These were accoma panied by a large number of the great men of state and members of the leading families.”1007 The group aided Fus Farrukh and his brothers “in killing various men who had assassinated Ardash¯ III . . . [and] various members of the class ır of the great men of state.” Having done away with the Mihr¯nid usurper, the a group “then raised to the throne B¯r¯n, daughter of Kisr¯.”1008 In this version ua a of Tabar¯ account, therefore, two main personalities are depicted as serving ı’s . a central role in the opposition to Shahrvar¯z and are ultimately held respona sible for the murder of this powerful Parthian dynastic leader: Fus Farrukh-i M¯h Khursh¯ an and Z¯dh¯n Farrukh-i Shahrd¯r¯n. Now we recall that the a ıd¯ a a aa deposition and murder of the child-king Ardash¯ III was effected through the ır collaboration of Shahrvar¯z and the N¯ uz¯ faction under the leadership of a ımr¯ ı the P¯rs¯ F¯ uz¯n. It follows therefore that Fus Farrukh-i M¯h Khursh¯ an a ıg ır¯ a a ıd¯ and his brothers, together with Z¯dh¯n Farrukh-i Shahrd¯r¯n, must have risen a a aa against these P¯rs¯ and N¯ uz¯ factions gathered around F¯ uz¯n. a ıg ımr¯ ı ır¯ a

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pp. 733–735, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 467–468. a ı Balkh¯ 1995, p. 262. ı 1006 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 402, de Goeje, 1063. ı . 1007 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 403, de Goeje, 1063. ı . 1008 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 403, de Goeje, 1064. ı . 1009 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 404, de Goeje, 1064. ı . 1010 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 258. ı
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1004 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, a ı

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According to Tabar¯ upon the murder of Shahrvar¯z, when Fus Farrukh and ı, a . Z¯dh¯n Farrukh promoted B¯r¯ndukht to Sasanian regency, the latter “ena a ua trusted Shahrvar¯z’s ofﬁce to Fus Farrukh, and invested him with the ofﬁce a of her chief minister.”1009 This is reiterated also in Bal am¯ account: B¯r¯nı’s ua dukht, rendered here as T¯r¯n Dukht, gave her ministership to Fus Farrukh. ua Bal am¯ adds one other signiﬁcant piece of information: this Fus Farrukh was ı from Khur¯s¯n.1010 Fus Farrukh thus became the minister of B¯r¯ndukht. Who aa ua then was Fus Farrukh? In order to attempt an answer we should begin by an observation regarding his name: Fus Farrukh (fus from Middle Persian pus, son) is the literal equivalent of Z¯dh¯n Farrukh (z¯d, child of), both meaning the son a a a of Farrukh. Hence these names could simply be a substitute for the name Farrukhz¯d. And in fact, Fus Farrukh and Z¯dh¯n Farrukh are one and the same a a a

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1989, pp. 28–29. only cites this same ﬁgure. Justi 1895, p. 187 1013 Justi 1895, p. 187. Tabar¯ 1999, p. 402, and n. 992. ı . 1014 See Chapter 5, especially page 357ff. 1015 See also our discussions on pages 151 and 187. 1016 Sebeos 1999, p. 89. 1017 See page 150.
1012 Justi

1011 Gyselen

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ﬁgure, but not, as one would expect from the name, representing Farrukhz¯d, a the son of Farrukh Hormozd, but in fact, as we shall see shortly, representing Farrukh Hormozd himself. Besides the literal identity of the name of Farrukhz¯d with both Z¯dh¯n Farrukh and Fus Farrukh, do we have any grounds for a a a considering him, or his father, to be the prime minister of B¯r¯ndukht and the ua ﬁgure—representative of a faction—responsible for toppling Shahrvar¯z? a Before we proceed, two more observations are in order. Tabar¯ epithet ı’s . shahrd¯r¯n for Z¯dh¯n Farrukh clearly reﬂects his ofﬁce, namely the governoraa a a ship (shahrd¯r¯) of a region (shahr).1011 As for the epithet M¯h Khursh¯ an, aı a ıd¯ considering the rarity of this name,1012 one must forego Justi’s explanation of M¯h Khursh¯ an as a patronym, namely, son of M¯h Khursh¯ and simply opt a ıd¯ a ıd, for its meaning, someone who has “the spirit of the moon and the sun (as his protector).”1013 Fus Farrukh thus becomes a dynastic ﬁgure who “seeks the protection of the sun and the moon,” not a far fetched assumption considering the religious currents prevalent in the Sasanian realm by any means.1014 We can now state our main claim concerning Z¯dh¯n Farrukh-i Shahrd¯a a a r¯n and Fus Farrukh-i M¯h Khursh¯ an: they are in fact none other than the a a ıd¯ famous Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd, the commander of the army of Azarb¯yj¯n, under the leadership of whose family most other nobility were a a gathered to oppose Shahrvar¯z and the army of N¯ uz. A major problem, a ımr¯ endemic to the Arabic as well as the Persian histories of the period, is the confusion of the name of this dynastic scion, Farrukh Hormozd, with that of his son, Farrukhz¯d.1015 As we shall see, layers of confusion in our accounts have a jumbled not only the identity of the members of this important Parthian dynastic family and their ancestry, but also their central and crucial involvement in the history of the Sasanians. Before we identify these layers of confusion, it is best to investigate the accounts that unmistakably identify this important minister of B¯r¯ndukht’s reign. We shall start with the account of the Armenian ua historian Sebeos. According to Sebeos, shortly after Shahrvar¯z attacked Ctesiphon and dea clared himself king, the elite rebelled, killed the mutinous general Shahrvar¯z, a and put Queen Bor (B¯r¯ndukht), the daughter of Khusrow II, on the throne. ua After the enthronement “they appointed as chief minister at court Kho˙okh r Ormizd, who was the prince of the region of Atrpatakan.”1016 This Kho˙okh r Hormozd, of course, is none other than the Prince of the Medes, the Farrukh Hormozd of the Arabic sources.1017 All other narratives at our disposal corroborate Sebeos’ account on this point. However, Sebeos’ narrative hereafter parts

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1018 Sebeos

1019 Ya q¯ bi u

1999, p. 89. 1969, vol. 1, pp. 197–198, Ya q¯bi 1983, pp. 214–215, Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 269. u ı 1020 Ya q¯ bi 1969, vol. 1, pp. 197–198, Ya q¯ bi 1983, pp. 214–215. u u 1021 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 406–407, de Goeje, 1065. ı . 1022 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 406–407, de Goeje, 1065. ı .

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company with the Arabic and Persian sources. After narrating that queen Bor appointed Kho˙okh Hormozd as the chief minister of the court, Sebeos informs r us that “this Kho˙okh sent a message to the queen [Bor]: ‘Become my wife’.” r The queen consented to this matrimony.1018 But as Sebeos informs us, this was nothing but a ruse, for under the pretense of marriage, B¯r¯ndukht actually ua murdered Kho˙okh Hormozd (Farrukh Hormozd). Queen Bor (B¯r¯ndukht) r ua was in power for two years, according to Sebeos, before she died. Our other sources also identify the minister of queen B¯r¯ndukht as Farua rukh Hormozd. About this, therefore, there is no doubt: it was the Prince of the Medes, the leader of the Pahlav, who promoted B¯r¯ndukht to the throne ua and fought against Shahrvar¯z’s usurpation of the throne. The narrative of Fara rukh Hormozd’s request of matrimony from a Sasanian queen is also provided by other Arabic sources. Here, however, all of our other sources deviate from Sebeos’ account: the queen in question is not B¯r¯ndukht, but her sister, Azarua m¯ ıdukht.1019 The region under Farrukh Hormozd’s jurisdiction, moreover, is at times said to be Azarb¯yj¯n, but at other times Khur¯s¯n. Furthermore, in a a aa all other narratives it was Azarm¯ ıdukht and not B¯r¯ndukht who ultimately ua killed the Parthian dynast Farrukh Hormozd. According to Ya q¯b¯ for example, when Azarm¯ u ı, ıdukht ascended the throne Farrukh Hormozd, the ispahbud of Khur¯s¯n, approached her and declared: aa “Today I am the leader of the people and the pillar of the country of Iran.” Farrukh Hormozd then asked the hand of Azarm¯ ıdukht in marriage. The story of the ruse of the queen and her murder of Farrukh Hormozd, attributed to B¯r¯ndukht by Sebeos, is then also narrated by Ya q¯b¯ except that the queen ua u ı, in question is Azarm¯ ıdukht. Furthermore, after Azarm¯ ıdukht killed Farrukh Hormozd, “his son [i.e., the son of Farrukh Hormozd], Rustam, who was in Khur¯s¯n, and who [later] fought Sa d b. Ab¯ Waqq¯s in Q¯disiya, came and aa ı a. a killed Azarm¯ ıdukht.”1020 Why does Ya q¯b¯ maintain that Farrukh Hormozd was the sp¯hbed of Khuu ı a r¯s¯n, while Sebeos calls him the Prince of the Medes and Atrapatkan? Was aa Farrukh Hormozd in power over Azarb¯yj¯n or over Khur¯s¯n? Most Arabic a a aa sources conﬁrm that Farrukh Hormozd was the sp¯hbed of Khur¯s¯n. Tabar¯ a aa . ı, for example, maintains that during Azarm¯ ıdukht’s reign “the outstanding great man of Persia was . . . Farrukh Hurmuz, isbahbadh of Khur¯s¯n.”1021 Tabar¯ aa ı . . also underlines for us the fact that during Azarm¯ ıdukht’s reign “Rustam, son of Farrukh Hurmuz, the man whom Yazdjird (III) was later to send to combat the Arabs, was acting as his father’s deputy in Khur¯s¯n.”1022 The F¯rsn¯ma identiaa a a ﬁes Farrukh Hormozd as the governor of Khur¯s¯n and maintains that “there aa

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§3.3: B URANDUKHT AND A ZARMIDUKHT C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

was none greater than him among the Persians.”1023 Bal am¯ adds the signiﬁcant ı piece of information that at the time of the murder of his father, the “great sp¯ha ¯ ı, bed of Khur¯s¯n, Rustam, was himself in Khur¯s¯n.”1024 It is Mas ud¯ however, aa aa who ﬁnally clariﬁes the confusion. According to him, when Khurra Hormozd (Farrukh Hormozd) was murdered by Azarm¯ ıdukht, his son Rustam, the future general at the battle of Q¯disiya, and the ﬁgure who “according to some was a the successor of his father in Khur¯s¯n and according to others in Azarb¯yj¯n and aa a a Armenia,” came to queen Azarm¯ ıdukht and killed her.1025 It is signiﬁcant to ¯ ı, note here tangentially that according to Mas ud¯ Rustam’s murder of Azarm¯ ı¯ dukht took place in 10 AH/631 CE.1026 Rustam is called Rostam-i Adhar¯ (i.e., ı ¯ ı. from Azarb¯yj¯n) by Mas ud¯ 1027 This, for good reason, for initially Rustam a a was assigned the post of dar¯gbed of Azarb¯yj¯n.1028 ı a a In short, while the confusion over the territorial domains of the family of the Prince of the Medes remains, all Arabic sources, unlike Sebeos, maintain that Farrukh Hormozd, the “leader of the people and the pillar of the country of Iran,” and the ﬁgure besides whom “there was none greater . . . among the Persians,” asked the hand of Azarm¯ ıdukht and not B¯r¯ndukht in matrimony. ua All maintain, moreover, that it was Azarm¯ ıdukht who was responsible for Farrukh Hormozd’s murder in 631 and who lost her own life as a result at the ¯ ı, hands of Rustam. Moreover, Rustam, sometimes called Azar¯ is most often identiﬁed as the sp¯hbed of Khur¯s¯n, functioning in lieu of his father. a aa 3.3.1 The Ispahbudh¯n a

Our narratives, therefore, identify Farrukh Hormozd as one of the most important ﬁgures of the reigns of the two queens B¯r¯ndukht and Azarm¯ ua ıdukht. Some sources call this ﬁgure either Fus Farrukh or Z¯dh¯n Farrukh, that is, a a Farrukhz¯d, the other son of Farrukh Hormozd. Hence, already we can detect a three layers of confusion here. Firstly, the actual name of this towering ﬁgure is variously given as Fus Farrukh, Z¯dh¯n Farrukh or, alternatively, as Farrukh a a Hormozd. A simple confusion is at work here: the name of the father, Farrukh Hormozd, and the son, Farrukhz¯d, have been confused. A second layer of a confusion surrounds the jurisdiction and power of this ﬁgure. Farrukh Hormozd is sometimes called the prince of Atrapatkan (Azarb¯yj¯n) and at times a a the governor of Khur¯s¯n. It is therefore not clear precisely over which of these aa

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Balkh¯ 1995, p. 269. ı to this, Khusrow II Parv¯ had given the governorship (im¯rat) of Khur¯s¯n to Farrukh ız a aa ı, Hormozd. According to Bal am¯ while Farrukh Hormozd was in the capital serving Khusrow II, his son, Rustam, was serving as the representative (khal¯fa) of his father in Khur¯s¯n. Bal am¯ also ı aa ı ıdukht and the queen’s includes the story of Farrukh Hormozd’s request of marriage from Azarm¯ refusal and ultimate murder of Farrukh Hormozd. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 259. ı 1025 Mas ud¯ 1965 also contains Farrukh Hormozd’s request of marriage from Azarm¯ ¯ ı ıdukht. 1026 Mas ud¯ 1965, p. 103. ¯ ı 1027 Likewise, his father, Farrukh Hormozd, is said to be from Azarb¯yj¯n. Mas ud¯ 1965, p. 103. ¯ ı a a 1028 For the ofﬁce of dar¯gbed, see Gyselen 2002, pp. 113–114; Khurshudian 1998, pp. 109–113; see ı also our brief discussion on page 126.
1024 Prior

1023 Ibn

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two regions our ﬁgure(s) held control. Thirdly, with the exception of Sebeos, the ministership of Farrukh Hormozd is always attached to queen B¯r¯ndukht, ua and never to Azarm¯ ıdukht, but it was from Azarm¯ ıdukht that Farrukh Hormozd requested matrimony, and at her hands that he lost his life. Rustam, the son of Farrukh Hormozd and his deputy in Khur¯s¯n, then killed Azarm¯ aa ıdukht in revenge for his father’s murder. Farrukh Hormozd, son of Vind¯yih u Now the confusion over the actual name of Farrukh Hormozd and the substitution of the name of the father for his son, Farrukhz¯d, is a common occurrence a in our sources.1029 This confusion has led to substantial misunderstandings, so much so that in some secondary literature to this day, Rustam, the other son of Farrukh Hormozd and the brother of Farrukhz¯d, has been rendered a as Rustam-i Farrukhz¯d,1030 that is, Rustam the son of Farrukhz¯d. This misa a understanding we must clear once and for all: Rustam was the son of Farrukh Hormozd and the brother of Farrukhz¯d.1031 a The confusion of Farrukh Hormozd with his son Farrukhz¯d was pointed a out long ago by Justi. M¯ ırkhw¯nd, for example, maintains that Farrukhz¯d a a was the father of Rustam.1032 Tabar¯ also commits the same mistake switching, ı . many times over, the name of Farrukh Hormozd with that of the latter’s son Farrukhz¯d. Nöldeke noticed this confusion in Tabar¯ 1033 but did not recoga ı, . nize the full ramiﬁcations of it. This confusion is clearly illustrated in Bal am¯ ı’s account. For while in one passage, Bal am¯ correctly identiﬁes Farrukh Horı mozd as Rustam’s father, later in this same narrative he contradicts himself by saying that “the name of the father of Rustam, the governor of Khur¯s¯n, was aa Farrukhz¯d.” a This confusion, in fact, had left a number of episodes of late Sasanian history inexplicable. Most signiﬁcantly, it has in all probability thoroughly obscured the ancestry of the family of Farrukh Hormozd, the Prince of the Medes. With a high degree of conﬁdence, we can now postulate that the family of Farrukh Hormozd is none other than the Ispahbudh¯n family. Farrukh Hormozd a himself was the son of Vind¯yih, the uncle and ﬁrst minister of Khusrow II and u the brother of the towering ﬁgure of Vist¯hm, who both had helped Khusrow II a to power, but later were killed by him.1034 This crucial piece of information,
for instance Gard¯ ı, Ab¯ Sa¯ Abd al-Hayy, Ta r¯kh-i Gard¯z¯, Tehran, 1984, edited by ız¯ u ıd ı ı ı . ’Abd al-Hayy Habibi (Gard¯ ı 1984), p. 103. See also our discussions on pages 151 and 184. ız¯ 1030 Zarrinkub 1975, p. 10. In the translated volume of Tabar¯ he is even called Rustam b. Farrukhı, . z¯d al-Arman¯ Tabar¯ The Battle of al-Q¯disiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine, vol. XII a ı, . ı, a of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1992, translated and annotated by Yohanan Friedmann (Tabar¯ ı ı . . 1992), p. 232. 1031 Sebeos 1999; Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1988. . . a ı 1032 Justi 1895, p. 96. According to Justi, in his Histoire des Rois de Perse, Nikb¯ ben Massoud not ı only transposes the ﬁgure of Farrukh Hormozd on to, this time, his son Rustam, but calls him Farrukhz¯d. a 1033 Nöldeke 1879, pp. 393–394, and p. 344, n. 1, Nöldeke 1979, p. 591, n. 171. 1034 See §2.7.1. For a reconstructed genealogical tree of the Ispahbudh¯n, see page 471. a
1029 See

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however, has been lost as a result of the substantial confusion between the names of the father and son in our sources. For instance, as Bal am¯ editor ı’s observes,1035 the name is given in Tabar¯ as Farrukhz¯d-i Binduw¯n, that is, Farı a a . rukhz¯d, son of Bind¯.1036 Ibn al-Ath¯ too, succumbs to this confusion when a u ır, he maintains that after the death of Ardash¯ III, when the Sasanian crown had ır remained vacant, “the women of the Sasanian household spoke and instructed Farrukhz¯d, ibn al-Bindhuw¯n to choose a Sasanian king from wherever possia a ble.”1037 Now, Bind¯ is the shortened, Arabicized version of Vind¯yih. Moreu u over, in almost all of the cases where Farrukhz¯d is rendered as Farrukhz¯d-i a a Binduw¯n, the context makes it amply clear that the person talked about is in a fact Farrukh Hormozd. We must therefore amend these sources appropriately: Farrukhz¯d and Rustam were the sons of Farrukh Hormozd, who in turn was a the son of Vind¯yih; Vind¯yih of the Ispahbudh¯n family, the brother of Visu u a t¯hm and the son of the famous Asparapet whose exact name remains confused a in our sources. Territorial domains of the Ispahbudh¯n a What strengthens this identiﬁcation is our awareness of the formidable power of the two families, the Ispahbudh¯n and the family of the Prince of the Medes, a as well as our knowledge of the overlap of their territorial domains. As established in the previous chapter, Asparapet and his sons Vist¯hm and Vind¯a u yih held power, not only in the k¯st-i khwarbar¯n (west), but also in the k¯st-i u a u khwar¯s¯n (east),1038 where their original homeland was located, and where Visaa t¯hm eventually carved out an independent kingdom for almost seven years.1039 a Moreover, Sebeos makes it clear that in his ﬁght against Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Visa u ın, t¯hm’s power base was located in Azarb¯yj¯n,1040 although he does not coma a a ment on the extent of the Ispahbudh¯n’s power in the latter region.1041 Now, a these same territories were also under the control of the family of the Prince of the Medes. The agnatic structure of the dynastic families made this continuity inevitable even after the reforms of Khusrow I: dynastic domains ultimately remained within the families of a particular dynast even if that dynast, Vist¯hm in a this case, had lost his exalted position in the eyes of the Sasanians. It is impossible to consider the incredibly powerful families of the Ispahbudh¯n and the Prince a
p. 283 and n. 6. Persian possessive in names is often rendered by the sufﬁx -¯n, so that Farrukhz¯d-i Bindua a w¯n in this case means Farrukhz¯d of Bind¯. a a u 1037 Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 393: ır
1036 The 1035 Bal am¯ 1959, ı

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the sigillographic evidence, see page 107ff. §2.7.1. 1040 See page 128. 1041 In the apocalyptic account that Sebeos provides from the prophecy of Daniel, he clearly connects the territory of the Medes and the Parthians: the “Sasanian kingdom . . . [has] three ribs in its mouth, the kingdom of the Persians, Medes and Parthians.” Sebeos 1999, p. 105.
1039 See

1038 For

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page 154. page 212 below. 1044 This struggle culminated in the sacking of the Mihr¯ns’ capital Rayy with the complicity of a the Ispahbudh¯n; see §3.4.4, page 250ff, and page 264ff. a
1043 See

1042 See

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of the Medes as two distinct families, if we take into consideration the genealogical tree that we have constructed and the agnatic infrastructure that regulated them together with the overlapping of the territorial domains of these families. The accounts of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition highlight the familial relation of a a the Ispahbudh¯n with the family of the Prince of the Medes. In all the accounts a that detail Khusrow II’s deposition, the family of the Prince of the Medes is shown to have played a leading role. And in the list of grievances that was submitted to Khusrow II by Farrukhz¯d in a group of our narratives, as we have a seen,1042 the murders of Vist¯hm and Vind¯yih took a primary place. a u What further corroborates this genealogical reconstruction is that in the wars that subsequently took place against the Arabs, Rustam of the family of the Prince of the Medes brought to the front what was tantamount to a dynastic army, in which the sons of Vist¯hm, Vind¯yih and T¯ uyih, together a u ır¯ with other members of the Ispahbudh¯n family, fought side by side with Rusa tam, the grandson of Vind¯yih, and other members of the family of the Prince u of the Medes.1043 Moreover, following the age-old tradition of rivalry among the Parthian dynastic families, the dynastic struggles in which the family of the Prince of the Medes became involved—in direct continuity of the rivalries that had engulfed the Ispahbudh¯n family—were against none other than a the Mihr¯n family.1044 In the unlikely event that the identiﬁcation of Farrukh a Hormozd’s ancestry with that of the Ispahbudh¯n family does not hold under a closer scrutiny, the postulate does not distract from the tenor of the rest of our argument, that is, from the period of Khusrow II onward, the Parthian family of Farrukh Hormozd, Farrukhz¯d, and Rustam was one of the most powerful a dynastic families to hold power over both Azarb¯yj¯n and Khur¯s¯n, the latter a a aa being the traditional ﬁefdom of the Parthian families. Furthermore, Farrukh Hormozd’s family was one of the primary factions that supported not only Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s and Ardash¯ III’s kingship, but also B¯r¯ndukht’s regency, ır¯ a ır ua bringing her to power in 630 CE. What then explains the tenor of the narratives that claim that Farrukh Hormozd asked for the hand of Azarm¯ ıdukht in marriage? Here we shall have to stop our primary reliance on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a tradition. Our search for an answer must now involve a critical examination and juxtaposition of the fut¯h narratives—speciﬁcally the traditions handed down u. by Sayf b. Umar and those following him—with those of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a tradition. Numismatic evidence will prove to be our corroborating gauge. Signiﬁcantly, it is only in the course of examining some of the important battles in the early Arab conquest of Iraq that we can further reconstruct the nature of the over-arching rivalry between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ the effect of this a ıg, rivalry on the defensive war efforts of the Iranians against the encroaching Arab armies, and what we believe to be the chronology of this ﬁrst phase of the Arab

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conquest of Iraq. The value of Sayf’s fut¯h narratives, the precise relationship of u. Farrukh Hormozd to Azarm¯ ıdukht and B¯r¯ndukht, as well as a host of other ua crucial dimensions of this juncture of Sasanian history, will only become fully explicated once we have undertaken this investigation. The reader must bear with us, however, for all of this will require that we go back to an earlier point, namely, the events that transpired during the reign of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, for it is ır¯ a at this juncture that the the narratives in the fut¯h literature begin. u. 3.3.2 Analepsis: Arab conquest of Iraq

Sayf’s account of the initial phase of the conquest of Iraq begins with a very signiﬁcant chronological and symbolic indicator: when “Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ was a ıd done with the business of Yam¯mah”, Ab¯ Bakr (632–634) wrote to him: “Go a u onward toward Iraq until you enter it. Begin with the gateway to India, which is Ubullah [i.e., Basrah, the port city near the Persian Gulf]. Render the people of . Persia (F¯rs) and those nations under their rule peaceable.” Now Yam¯mah was a a where Kh¯lid had defeated the pseudo-prophet Musaylimah.1045 The signiﬁer, at a the very inception of Sayf’s account, therefore, is the ridda1046 wars conducted under the direction of Ab¯ Bakr.1047 The accepted hijra chronology provided u by Sayf, moreover, puts the start of these wars in 12 AH, conventionally dated to 633 CE. The battle of Ubullah The battle of Ubullah, one of the ﬁrst wars reported during this phase of the conquest under Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ command has raised questions. Donner, for a ıd’s example, has maintained that the conquest of Ubullah was probably undertaken somewhat later than 634 under the command of Utbah b. Ghazw¯n.1048 Blanka inship, on the other hand, notes that Khal¯ b. Khayy¯t records Kh¯lid’s camıfat a. a paigns in the vicinity of Basrah during this period, while Bal¯dhur¯ also notes a ı . Kh¯lid’s presence around Basrah. All this suggests, Blankinship argues, that a . “Kh¯lid at least may have led a raid there although Utbah actually reduced the a area.”1049 Controversy surrounds, therefore, the chronology of the inception of these wars. Who were the Persian commanders participating in the battle of Ubullah, however? And what are the Sasanian chronological indicators for this battle? The Persian commanders mentioned in the course of this campaign are J¯a b¯n (Arabicized form of Middle Persian g¯w¯n), the governor of Ullays;1050 a a a ¯ a Az¯dbih, the governor (marzb¯n) of H¯ and the commander of the Sasanian a . ıra
p. 1, n. 3, p. 2, n. 9. footnote 900. 1047 This theme is reiterated a number of times in Sayf’s account. See, for example, Tabar¯ 1993, ı . pp. 4, 7 and 8, among others, de Goeje, 2018, 2020. 1048 Donner 1981, p. 329, n. 66. 1049 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 2, n. 9. ı . 1050 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 5, de Goeje, 2018. ı .
1046 See 1045 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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cavalry;1051 and the general Hurmuz (Hormozd), who might have been the commander of the Gateway to India, although it has been suggested that the appearance of this individual was Sayf’s fabrication.1052 During the course of this war, Kh¯lid wrote to Hormozd and urged him to become a Muslim or opt a to pay the jizya. Now these raids, as they are called, are described under the year 12 of hijra (633 CE) and are said to have been directed by Ab¯ Bakr after u the defeat of Musaylamah. For our purposes, however, another signiﬁcant chronological indicator is given here by Sayf. At the receipt of Kh¯lid’s letter, Hormozd sent the news to a Sh¯r¯yih Qub¯d and to Ardash¯r III, after which he mobilized his forces.1053 Unıu a ı like Sayf’s account, where there is a confusion as to whether this war took place during Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s reign (628) or during Ardash¯ III’s reign (628–630), ır¯ a ır however, Ibn al-Ath¯ maintains that the battle of Ubullah took place during the ır reign of Ardash¯ III.1054 The anachronism in Sayf’s mention of these Sasanian ır kings was caught by Blankinship,1055 who noted that, while Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d ır¯ a and Ardash¯ III ruled in 7–9 AH/628–630 CE, these wars reportedly took place ır in 12 AH/633 CE, a year after the death of the Prophet and the inception of the rule of the Sasanian king Yazdgird III.1056 If we continue to uphold the accepted hijra dating of these events, this objection would be valid. What would happen, however, if, as we suggested at the beginning of this chapter, we choose to ignore the hijra date altogether, and—even if we admit the participation of Kh¯lid a b. Wal¯ in these raids—presume that these raids in fact did take place around ıd the time when Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d died and the seven-year old child Ardash¯ III ır¯ a ır was enthroned? After all, why would the early traditionalist have connected this war to the rule of Ardash¯ III when Yazdgird III was ruling? Would this alır ternative chronological scheme make sense if we compare it to the information that we have now garnered about Ardash¯ III’s reign from the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag ır a a tradition and other sources? It can be readily observed that Sayf’s information about the paramount Sasanian ﬁgures involved in the battle of Ubullah betrays a highly reasonable internal logic when considered in isolation from the remaining information on Arab generals and ﬁgures and when we disregard the hijra dating. According to Sayf, when Hormozd organized his army, he gave the command of the two wings to two brothers called Qub¯d and An¯shj¯n. Qub¯d and An¯shj¯n were of Sasaa u a a u a nian descent through the Sasanian kings Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d and Ardash¯ III.1057 ır¯ a ır

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p. 5, de Goeje, 2019. . p. 9, n. 62. . 1053 Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 11, 16, de Goeje, 2023, 2027. ı . 1054 Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 141. ır 1055 Blankinship’s assessment, needless to say, is here given only as an example of the paradigmatic methodology relied upon in the ﬁeld, which ultimately disregards the Sasanian chronological indicators in favor of the accepted hijra dating. 1056 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 11, n. 73 and 74. ı . 1057 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 12, de Goeje, 2023. ı .
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An¯shj¯n is further identiﬁed as the son of Jushnasm¯h.1058 Who are these ﬁgu a a ures? Can we in fact establish any connection between these and the rule of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d or Ardash¯ III? We must start with an onomastic observation: ır¯ a ır the name Jushnasm¯h is an abbreviated form of Jushnas M¯h Adhar, where the a a ¯ 1059 ﬁnal sufﬁx ¯dhar (ﬁre) has been dropped, a and hence in its inverted form, the name becomes M¯h¯dharjushnas. As we recall, M¯h¯dharjushnas (Jushnasm¯h) a a a a a was the minister of the child Ardash¯ III “in charge of his upbringing and carryır ing the administration of the kingdom.”1060 He undertook to protect the child Ardash¯ III and his capital, when the N¯ uz¯ faction together with Shahrvaır ımr¯ ı r¯z were conspiring to topple the king. And so we can expect the minister’s a sons An¯shj¯n and Qub¯d to have taken part in the battle of Ubullah. The u a a executive powers under the command of An¯shj¯n were in fact so great that he u a undersigned a peace treaty with the Arabs after the battle.1061 Now, Ardash¯ III ır ruled for about one year and seven months, until Shahrvar¯z usurped the Sasaa nian throne on 27 April 630. Based on our alternative chronology, therefore, the battle of Ubullah would have taken place anytime between September 628 CE and April 630 CE , that is 7–9 AH . However, since some of the accounts still mention Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, we should conclude that this battle probably took ır¯ a place sometime in 7 AH/628 CE. The battle of Dh¯t al-Sal¯sil a a A series of other battles, also placed by Sayf in the year 12 of hijra, follow this same internal logic. The battle that subsequently took place between Kh¯lid a and Hormozd is called the battle of Dh¯t al-Sal¯sil. Signiﬁcantly, Blankinship a a notes that this battle, which is reported only by Sayf, “has the same name as the ¯. expedition of Amr b. al- As in the year 8/629, where it refers to a place.” This war
1058 Bal¯dhur¯ Ahmad b. Yahy¯, Fut¯h al-Buld¯n, Leiden, 1968, edited by M.J. de Goeje (Bal¯dhur¯ u. a a ı a ı, . . a 1968), p. 340; Tabar¯ 1993, p. 12, n. 78. The name of An¯shj¯n, therefore, might in fact be the ı u a . abbreviated form of An¯sh Jushnasp, just as the name of his brother would be Qub¯d Jushnasp. u a 1059 This name is formed on the same scheme as, for instance, a name attested on the seals: Bahr¯m-i a M¯h Adhar; see §2.6.1. a ¯ 1060 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 400, de Goeje, 1061. See page 179ff. ı . 1061 His name is here given as N¯ shj¯n b. Jusn¯sm¯. This information is provided by Bal¯dhur¯ in u a a a a ı the following context, although, naturally, he also puts these events in the year 12 of hijra: “They say that Suwayd b. Qutbah, or according to some Qutbat b. Qat¯dah, was constantly looting the a . . ajam in the vicinity of Khuraybah in Basrah, as Muthann¯ . . . was looting the environs of . . . H¯ a . . ıra . . . In the year 12 of hijra, when Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ came to Basrah, and set out for K¯fa, he helped a ıd u . Suwayd [b. Muqarrin] in the battle of Ubullah. Others maintain that Kh¯lid did not leave Basrah a . until he conquered Khuraybah. The arms depot (z¯nist¯n) of the Persians was there . . . They also ı a say that he went to Nahr al-Mar ¯t and conquered the palace there through a peace treaty with N¯a u shj¯n b. Jusn¯sm¯.” The owner of the palace in Nahr al-Mar ¯t, K¯mind¯r, the daughter of Ners¯ a a a a a a ı (Nars¯ was the paternal cousin of N¯shj¯n. Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 340. Also see Khayy¯t, Khal¯ b., ı), u a a ı a. ıfat Ta r¯kh, Beirut, 1977 (Khayy¯t 1977), pp. 117–118. This An¯shj¯n is probably related to An¯shn¯d ı a. u a u a b. Hash-n-sh-bandih, whose name is a clear corruption of An¯sh Jushnasp, mentioned by Hamza u . . Isfah¯n¯ among the Iranians who held the governorship over various Arab territories during the . a ı reign of Khusrow I and part of that of Hormozd IV. Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1961, p. 116, Hamza Isfah¯n¯ . . a ı . . a ı 1988, pp. 141–142.

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has also been reported by Ibn Hish¯m, W¯qid¯ and Ibn Sa d in the S¯rah, Kit¯b a a ı, ı a al-Magh¯z¯, and Tabaq¯t al-Kab¯r respectively, as having taken place during the a ı a ı . year 8 of hijra, that is, 629 CE.1062 In other words, if we follow the Sasanian chronology, and compare it to the events described for the year 8 of hijra in other Arabic sources, then this war took place probably in 629. Hormozd, who was from “the highest nobility among the Persians . . . [and] from [one of] the seven houses,”1063 was killed in the battle of Dh¯t al-Sal¯sil, whereas Aa a n¯shj¯n and Qub¯d escaped.1064 Toward the end of this narrative, furthermore, u a a Tabar¯ takes “the rare and unusual step of denouncing Sayf’s story,” observing ı . that the narrative as we have it is “different from what the true traditions have brought us. For the battle of Ubullah was only in the days of Umar, when it was accomplished at the hands of Utbah in the year 14 of the hijra [i.e., 635– 636 CE].”1065 Blankinship takes issue with Tabar¯ observation and notes that ı’s . “some of the points of Sayf’s story are related by Ibn Khayy¯t . . . with isn¯ds a. a from others than Sayf.”1066 The battle of Madh¯r a Sayf then narrates the battle of Madh¯r and claims that it, too, took place in a 12 AH/633 CE.1067 What, however, are the Sasanian chronological indicators provided by Sayf? According to Sayf, when Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ had written to a ıd Hormozd urging him to become a Muslim or pay the jizya, Hormozd had in turn written to Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d and Ardash¯ III and informed them of the conır¯ a ır tent of the letter and the fact that Kh¯lid “had set out from al-Yam¯mah against a a him.”1068 The child Ardash¯ III allegedly responded to Hormozd’s warning of ır impending warfare by sending one Q¯r¯ to his aid. While the exact genealogy a ın of this Q¯r¯ cannot be reconstructed with the information at our disposal,1069 a ın there is no doubt that he belonged to the Parthian dynastic family of the K¯rins. a Q¯r¯ put Qub¯d and An¯shj¯n, the sons of Jushnasm¯h (M¯h¯dharjushnas), a ın a u a a a a the prime minister of Ardash¯ III, once more in charge of the two wings of his ır
1062 Ibn Hish¯m, b. Muhammad, S¯rah, Cairo, 1956 (Ibn Hish¯m 1956), pp. 623–624; W¯qid¯ a ı a a ı, . Muhammad b. Umar, Kit¯b al-Magh¯z¯, London, 1966, edited by M. Jones (W¯qid¯ 1966), pp. 769– a a ı a ı . 774; Ibn Sa d, Tabaq¯t al-Kab¯r, Leiden, 1940, edited by E. Sachau (Ibn Sa d 1940), p. 131; Tabar¯ a ı ı . . 1993, p. 13, n. 86. 1063 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 14, and n. 87, de Goeje, 2025. ı . 1064 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 13, de Goeje, 2025. ı . 1065 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 14, de Goeje, 2026. ı . 1066 Among the raids that Muhammad ordered in 7 AH /628 CE , Khayy¯t lists that of Amr b. al- As ¯ a. . . and Zayd b. H¯rithah to Dh¯t al-Sal¯sil, in the direction of the regions in Iraq. Khayy¯t 1977, a a a a. p. 85; Tabar¯ 1993, p. 14, de Goeje, 2025. For the year 6 AH/627 CE, he mentions the message ı . of Muhammad to Khusrow II, the king’s murder by Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, and the death of the latter ır¯ a . through pestilence. Khayy¯t 1977, p. 79. a. 1067 Blankinship again notes that this battle was actually fought by Utbah b. Ghazw¯n later, “so a that Sayf’s report here is chronologically improbable.” Blankinship gives reference to Morony 1984, pp. 127 (map), 160, and Donner 1981, p. 329, n. 66. 1068 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 16, de Goeje, 2027. Note the ridda indicator again. ı . 1069 The actual name of this Q¯r¯ according to Sayf, is Q¯r¯ b. Qary¯nis. Blankinship notes that a ın, a ın a the vocalization that he has given is conjectural. Tabar¯ 1993, p. 16, n. 104. ı .

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p. 16, de Goeje, 2027. ¯ ı, a should recall here that according to Mas ud¯ F¯rs was the domain of the P¯rs¯ while a ıg, “M¯h¯t [Media] and other regions” belonged to the Pahlav. See footnote 145. a a 1072 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 17, de Goeje, 2027. ı . 1073 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 17, de Goeje, 2028. ı .
1071 We

1070 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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army. In other words, a predominantly Pahlav army was sent to Hormozd’s aid. The internal evidence provided by Sayf on both of the major ﬁgures involved in the battle of Madh¯r, and his contention that these were active during the a regency of Ardash¯ III (628–630), continues to tally with the course of events ır transpiring in Iran as we have reconstructed these based on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a tradition. Presumably before reaching Hormozd, however, Q¯r¯ and his forces hear a ın of his defeat and death. Since Hormozd had been killed in the battle of Dh¯t ala Sal¯sil, which took place prior to the battle of Madh¯r, the army commanded by a a Hormozd needed indeed a new commander, hence the dispatch of the Parthian general Q¯r¯ Q¯r¯ arrived at the scene only to intercept the remnants of a ın. a ın the ﬂeeing army of Hormozd. Faced with the withdrawal of Sasanian forces they “encouraged each other [to return to the] ﬁght once more.” Who were these people encouraging each other? Sayf provides crucial evidence: The “remnants [of the forces of ] al-Ahw¯z and F¯rs [said] . . . to the remnants of al-Saw¯d a a a and al-Jabal, ‘If you split up, you will never join together afterward. Therefore join together to go back [to ﬁght once more]’.”1070 Two groups of people are here distinguished: 1) the forces of Ahv¯z and F¯rs, and 2) the forces of Saw¯d a a a and Jib¯l. As the regional power of the Pahlav was partly in the north, here a identiﬁed with Saw¯d and Jib¯l, under the leadership of M¯h¯dharjushnas and a a a a Q¯r¯ it follows that the forces of Hormozd must have hailed from Ahv¯z a ın, a and F¯rs, that is, from the P¯rs¯ domains. Hence, we are dealing here with a a a ıg regional distinction, north versus south, on to which a different sort of division is superimposed, the Pahlav versus the P¯rs¯ 1071 For the moment we can a ıg. summarize our narrative. We are still dealing with the reign of the child king Ardash¯ III (628–630). A certain Hormozd was in command of the forces that ır were brought to the war against the Arabs. Two of the important commanders who were dispatched to serve under Hormozd, Qub¯d and An¯shj¯n, were the a u a sons of the minister who was in charge of affairs during Ardash¯ III’s regency, ır M¯h¯dharjushnas (Jushnasm¯h). Hormozd, however, was defeated and killed in a a a the battle of Dh¯t al-Sal¯sil, which according to some sources took place during a a the year 8 of hijra (629 CE), precisely during the rule of Ardash¯ III. When Horır mozd died and his army was on the verge of withdrawing, however, the regional armies warned each other that to disperse would mean disaster. The command of the forces was then taken over by the Parthian general Q¯r¯ In the subsea ın. quent battle of Madh¯r, Q¯r¯ Qub¯d, and An¯shj¯n were all killed.1072 For a a ın, a u a our purposes we should note here another piece of information provided by Sayf: “Q¯r¯ nobility had lapsed. After him the Muslims did not ﬁght anyone a ın’s whose nobility had lapsed among the Persians.”1073

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST The battle of Walajah In the battle of Walajah, described next, and placed among the wars taking place in 12 AH/633 CE, the news of the defeat and murder of Q¯r¯ reached a ın Ardash¯ III. The child Ardash¯ III reportedly sent a ﬁgure called Andarzghar, ır ır who “was a Persian from among the mixed-bloods of al-Saw¯d and one of its a inhabitants, to the war front.” Prior to this, he had been “in charge of the frontier of Khur¯s¯n.”1074 This Andarzghar, however, Sayf informs us, “was not aa among those who had been born at al-Mad¯ in, nor had he grown up there. So Ardaa sh¯ III . . . sent Bahman J¯dh¯yih after him with an army.”1075 There was, in ır a u other words, something wrong with Andarzghar, namely that he was of mixed blood and not from Ctesiphon. Andarzghar, it must be noted, is a title, not a name, made up of andarz (council) and gar, the Persian sufﬁx denoting one who has a profession, in this case, a councillor.1076 We can now recapitulate: Once Hormozd and Q¯r¯ were dead, Ardash¯ III—or rather, the factions in control a ın ır of the child Ardash¯ III—sent a ﬁgure called Andarzghar to the war front. The ır command of Andarzghar, however, was not accepted and Bahman J¯dh¯yih a u was sent in his stead. People then joined Andarzghar and Bahman J¯dh¯yih to a u engage the Arabs at the battle of Walajah.1077 As we recall from the Xw ad¯ya N¯mag tradition, however, Ardash¯ III’s reign was thoroughly tumultuous.1078 a ır The Persians were, therefore, yet again defeated at the battle of Walajah.1079 The battle of Ullays With the narrative of the war of the battle of Ullays, which is still taking place in the year 12 of hijra according to Sayf, we are given further signiﬁcant internal Sasanian chronological indicators. Sayf’s narrative connects in a continuous fashion to that given for the battle of Walajah. Bahman J¯dh¯yih, Sayf informs a u us, “was the spokesman of Persia on one day out of their month. They divided their months so that each month consisted of thirty days. On each day the Persians had a [different] spokesman, who was appointed to speak for them before the king. Their spokesman was Bahman J¯dh¯yih on the second day of the a u month.”1080 The child Ardash¯ III supposedly wrote to this spokesman for the ır Persians and ordered him to go forth in order to engage the Arabs. Bahman J¯dh¯yih, however, disobeyed Ardash¯ III’s orders and sent J¯b¯n in his stead, a u ır a a
p. 19, de Goeje, 2030. . p. 19, de Goeje, 2029. . 1076 According to Khurshudian, the title andarzgar was carried as a name by some Mazdakites, suggesting perhaps that this general Andarzghar was one of the allegedly illegitimate offspring from the noble houses during the Mazdakite uprising (§2.4.5). Khurshudian 1998, p. 92. 1077 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 19, de Goeje, 2030. ı . 1078 See §3.2.2. 1079 It must be noted that in this war there were still Arabs who aided the Persians. Tabar¯ 1993, ı . p. 21, de Goeje, 2031. 1080 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 22, de Goeje, 2032. Emphasis added. See footnote 1092 for a conjecture about ı . the j¯dh¯yih ofﬁce which explains the peculiarities of this passage. a u
1075 Tabar¯ 1993, ı 1074 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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ordering him to not engage the enemy until he returned.1081 This, according to Sayf, he did because he wanted to go to Ardash¯ III “to see him in person ır and consult with him about what he wanted to command.” Bahman J¯dh¯yih, we a u are led to believe, wanted to seek the advice of a child king in power. The real reason why Bahman J¯dh¯yih was forced to leave the war front and go back a u to the capital, however, is subsequently given by Sayf. When Bahman J¯dh¯a u yih left the war zone to go to the capital, in Ctesiphon he found Ardash¯ III ır sick!1082 We recall now the turmoil which had engulfed Iran when the Mihr¯nid a Shahrvar¯z under Heraclius’ instigation moved toward the capital in order to a topple Ardash¯ III from power and declare himself king.1083 The coconspiraır tors of Shahrvar¯z, moreover, were the army of Persia and the East, the N¯ a ımr¯z¯ faction, under the command of the sp¯hbed of N¯ uz, N¯md¯r Jushnas. u ı a ımr¯ a a Bahman J¯dh¯yih, in other words, was forced to leave the war arena because a u Ardash¯ III was in the midst of being deposed through the collaboration of the ır army of Shahrvar¯z and the army of Persia and the East. While Bahman J¯dh¯a a u yih returned to the capital to take part in the strife that was unfolding, J¯b¯n a a was forced to man the war front alone. In the battle of Ullays, meanwhile, Sayf informs us, “the polytheists [i.e., the Iranians] were increased in rabidity and ferocity because they expected” Bahman J¯dh¯yih to return.1084 With the forces of J¯b¯n manning the war front on their a u a a own, with the chaos that must have been ongoing with the movement of Shahrvar¯z’s army toward the capital, and with the turmoil in Ctesiphon, the Arabs a were once again victorious in their skirmishes in the battle of Ullays.1085 We must now turn our attention to this Bahman J¯dh¯yih, who after the defeat a u and murder of Hormozd and Q¯r¯ took up the command of the army. Yet a ın another brief onomastic diversion is necessary here before we can proceed with the rest of our examination. P¯rs¯g leaders: Bahman J¯dh¯yih, Dhu ’l-H¯jib, Mard¯nsh¯h, and F¯r¯z¯n a ı a u a a ıu a .a The ﬁgure of Bahman J¯dh¯yih also bears the epithet Dhu ’l-H¯jib. There is no a u .a doubt that Dhu ’l-H¯jib is really an epithet, and not a name, some traditions giva . ing what seems to be a popular etymology for it.1086 The precise identity of this ﬁgure, however, remains unsettled. For at different historical junctures, at least three other names or epithets appear in the sources referring to a P¯rs¯ leader: a ıg

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p. 22, de Goeje, 2032. For J¯b¯n, see footnote 1050. a a . p. 22, de Goeje, 2032. . 1083 See §3.2.3. 1084 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 23, de Goeje, 2034. ı . 1085 Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 24–25, de Goeje, 2034–2036. ı . 1086 See, for example, Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 251, where the epithet is given to Mard¯nsh¯h, whom we a ı a a shall discuss shortly. Dhu ’l-H¯jib is here described to mean the eye-browed, for his eye-brows were .a so long that he was forced to “lift them above his eyes.”
1082 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

1081 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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F¯ uz¯n,1087 Hormozd J¯dh¯yih, and Mard¯nsh¯h,1088 with various traditions ır¯ a a u a a having substituted one name for the other. It should be remarked at the outset that whatever the confusion surrounding these ﬁgures, it is clear that they all belonged to the P¯rs¯ faction and functioned as the leader (or leaders) of this a ıg faction at different junctures. The epithet j¯dh¯yih is given not only to Bahman but also to Hormozd J¯da u a h¯yih.1089 This epithet too can be explained. As sigillographic evidence bears u witness, one of the important administrative ofﬁces of the Sasanian empire, possibly in the post-reform period (550–650), was the ofﬁce of the driy¯š¯n oa ˇ¯dagg¯w ud d¯dvar, the defender of the poor and judge. This seems to have been o a ja a judiciary ofﬁce possibly with religious overtones.1090 The title j¯dh¯yih, then, a u is most probably the Arabicized and abbreviated version of the term ˇ¯dagg¯w ja o given to the holder of the ofﬁce of driy¯š¯n ˇ¯dagg¯w ud d¯dvar,1091 in this case, o a ja o a the important P¯rs¯ leader, Bahman J¯dh¯yih.1092 a ıg a u There remains, however, the issue that some traditions maintain Bahman J¯dh¯yih to have been one of the leading ﬁgures of the Sasanian war efforts, a u whereas, other traditions maintain this to have been F¯ uz¯n or Mard¯nsh¯h. ır¯ a a a For example, while some sources call the leader of the P¯rs¯ in the battle of a ıg

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1895, pp. 250, 374. Mard¯nsh¯h cannot be the same person as Mard¯nsh¯h, the p¯dh¯sp¯n of N¯ uz, a a a a a u a ımr¯ discussed on page 157, as the latter was killed by Khusrow II. 1089 See page 202ff. At least two other ﬁgures at this juncture of Sasanian history bore this epithet: ¯ a a u Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih and Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih, see respectively page 247 and footnotes 1490 and 1528 a a u below. 1090 Gyselen 1989, pp. 6 and 31–33 and the sources cited therein; see also Daryaee, Touraj, ‘The Judge and Protector of the Needy during the Sasanian Period’, in A.A. Sadeghi (ed.), Tafazzol Memorial, pp. 179–187, Tehran, 2001 (Daryaee 2001). 1091 Justi 1895, p. 107. 1092 I am indebted to my husband Hans Schoutens for the following conjectural observation about the title j¯dh¯yih. We recall that according to Sayf, the Persians had spokesmen who were appointed a u to speak on their behalf before the king, one for each day of the month. Bahman J¯dh¯yih was their a u spokesman on the second day of the month. Tabar¯ 1993, p. 22, de Goeje, 2032. Now, j¯dh¯yih, ı a u . from Persian ˇ¯dagg¯w, means advocate, intercessor, whence spokesman; see MacKenzie 1971, p. 46. ja o Moreover, in the Zoroastrian calendar, the second day of the month is called Vohuman (Bahman). Bahman J¯dh¯yih therefore is the advocate (j¯dh¯yih) on the second day of the month (Bahman). a u a u Similarly, Hormozd J¯dh¯yih must have been the j¯dh¯yih on the ﬁrst day of the month (Hormozd) a u a u ¯ a a u ¯ a and Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih on the tenth day (Ab¯n). We may even go further and suggest that the name of the general Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih—who participated in the battle of Isfah¯n (see page 247) and is not a a u . a to be confused with the towering Mihr¯nid general Shahrvar¯z under Khusrow II—is a corrupted a a version of Shahr¯ j¯dh¯yih, that is, the j¯dh¯yih on the fourth day (Shahrewar). Bal am¯ in fact, ıvar a u a u ı, ıy¯ ı renders the name of this general as Shahr¯ ar. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 328, n. 3. In particular, when dealing with a name composed with j¯dh¯yih, the ﬁrst part should be considered as the name of a day, like a u a u a u Bahman in Bahman J¯dh¯yih. As we shall argue shortly, Bahman J¯dh¯yih’s actual name was most likely Mard¯nsh¯h. A Rustam J¯dh¯yih, who fell at the battle of Q¯disiya, is mentioned in Yaq¯t a a a u a u ı, a al-Hamaw¯ Kitab Mu jam al-Buld¯n, Leipzig, 1866, edited by F. Wüstenfeld as Jacut’s Geographisches Wörterbuch (Yaq¯t al-Hamaw¯ 1866) apud Justi 1895, p. 263. As there is no day named Rustam in u ı the Zoroastrian calendar, this time Rustam must be the actual name of this j¯dh¯yih, namely, the a u Ispahbudh¯n supreme commander Rustam, on whom see §3.4.1. a
1088 Clearly,

1087 Justi

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Bridge, F¯ uz¯n,1093 others refer to him as Mard¯nsh¯h Dhu ’l-H¯jib.1094 In all ır¯ a a a .a probability, the substitution of Mard¯nsh¯h for F¯ uz¯n here is a simple case a a ır¯ a of scribal error, the orthography of both names being very close.1095 On the other hand, some traditions substitute the ﬁgure of Mard¯nsh¯h for Bahman a a J¯dh¯yih, calling both Dhu ’l-H¯jib, such as Bal¯dhur¯ contention that Mara u a ı’s .a d¯nsh¯h Dhu ’l-H¯jib, whom he lists as one of the main commanders of the a a .a battle of Bridge, also had the epithet Bahman.1096 However, whereas Bahman J¯dh¯yih, Mard¯nsh¯h, and Dhu ’l-H¯jib all seem to refer to the same person in a u a a .a the sources, their identity with F¯ uz¯n is more problematic: in the midst of the ır¯ a battle of Bridge, as we shall see, queen B¯r¯ndukht recalled Bahman J¯dh¯yih ua a u and appointed in his stead F¯ uz¯n, but asked the latter to cooperate with the ır¯ a former;1097 and after F¯ uz¯n died at the battle of Nih¯vand, Bahman J¯dh¯yih ır¯ a a a u was appointed in his stead.1098 Based on this analysis, we therefore will proceed from the assumptions that Bahman J¯dh¯yih, Dhu ’l-H¯jib, and Mard¯nsh¯h a u a a .a all refer to one and the same ﬁgure, distinct, however, from F¯ uz¯n. These ır¯ a P¯rs¯ dynastic leaders, nonetheless, either had a close familial relationship, or a ıg most certainly, closely collaborated with each other. Returning to our narrative, we recall that Ardash¯ III’s deposition was efır fected by the cooperative efforts of the armies of Shahrvar¯z and N¯ uz.1099 a ımr¯ When Bahman J¯dh¯yih Dhu ’l-H¯jib hurried back to the capital because the a u .a news had reached him that Ardash¯ III was sick, therefore, as one of the leadır ers of the P¯rs¯ he was in fact returning to the capital to aid Shahrvar¯z and a ıg, a the N¯ uz¯ faction in toppling the child king. Hence, based on the Sasanian ımr¯ ı chronological indicators, the battle of Ullays took place at the time when Shahrvar¯z had mutinied and was about to take over Ctesiphon in his bid for power, a that is around April 630. The battle of Maqr In the battle of Maqr, or the Day of al-Maqr, which according to Sayf took place ¯ a subsequent to the battle of Ullays, Az¯dbih, the marzb¯n of H¯ who also a . ıra, 1100 ¯ a set out to dam the Euphrates.1101 Az¯dbih, fought at the battle of Ubullah,
1093 Tabar¯ The Conquest of Iraq, Southwestern Persia, and Egypt, vol. XIII of The History of Tabar¯, ı, ı . . Albany, 1989a, translated and annotated by Gautier H.A. Juynboll (Tabar¯ 1989a), p. 193, de Goeje, ı . 2608; Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, pp. 434–435; Justi 1895, p. 250. For the battle of Bridge, see §3.3.5. ır 1094 Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 251. a ı © © © © © © © 1095 à d 0¯ F¯ruz¯n, becoming à d ¯ Firuz¯n whence à d Ó mard¯n. ı a a a 1096 From Avestan Vohu Manah, Bahman means Good Thought. It was one of the divine Amahraspands in the post-Gathic Avest¯. Narten, J., ‘Bahman’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia a Iranica, New York, 2007 (Narten 2007). See also footnote 1092. 1097 Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 290–291. For more details, see page 218. ı 1098 Bahman J¯dh¯yih alladh¯ ja ala mak¯n-i dhu l-h¯jib. Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 203, de Goeje, 2618; a u ı a ı .a . Bal am¯ 1959, p. 317, n. 4. ı 1099 See §3.2.3. 1100 See page 190. 1101 According to Sayf, “they used not to support each other except by permission of the king.” Blankinship comments that they apparently meant the governors. Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 26–27 and ı .

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however, “was [also] impelled to ﬂee by the news that reached him about the death of Ardash¯r III, as well as the defeat of his own son.” The mutiny of Shahrvar¯z ı a with the collaboration of the P¯rs¯ against Ardash¯ III in 630 CE, therefore, a ıg ır seriously interrupted the Iranian defense against the encroaching Arabs. The ¯ a series of defenses put up by Bahman J¯dh¯yih, J¯b¯n, and Az¯dbih were disa u a a rupted by the factionalism engulﬁng the Sasanian domains, pre-occupying the three armies of the realm: the army of Atrapatkan (Azarb¯yj¯n), of Shahrvar¯z, a a a and of N¯ uz. This allowed the Arabs to take the region of H¯ through skirımr¯ . ıra mishes and negotiations.1102 As the piecemeal affairs against H¯ were taking . ıra place, and Kh¯lid had conquered one side of the Saw¯d, Sayf informs us, he sent a a a “letter to the Persians, who were then at al-Mad¯ in [Ctesiphon] disputing and a supporting [different parties] because of the death of Ardash¯r III.”1103 ı The battle of Veh Ardash¯r ı While pre-occupied with their disputes in the capital, the Persians, nevertheless, “did send Bahman J¯dh¯yih to Bahuras¯ (Veh Ardash¯ accompanied by the a u ır ır),” ¯ a forces of Az¯dbih.1104 It is the P¯rs¯ leader Bahman J¯dh¯yih, therefore, who a ıg a u nevertheless returned to the war front to engage the Arabs. Signiﬁcantly, in the letter that Kh¯lid sent to the kings of Persia he urged these to “enter [his] a faith.” If they would accept this, then the Arabs would leave them as well as their land alone and pass beyond them “to others different from [theirs].” If the kings of Persia did not accept the Arabs’ conditions, then “they must engage the Arabs . . . , even though [they] loath [it].”1105 The chronology of the internal events as they transpired in the Sasanian domains is once again followed by Sayf. What is more, this chronology continues to corroborate the procession of events in Iran as reconstructed through other sources. The Persians, Sayf continues, “were left split after the death of Ardash¯ III regarding the kingship but in agreement on ﬁghting Kh¯lid and ır a supporting each other.”1106 This state of affairs continued “for a year, while the Muslims were penetrating up to the Tigris. The Persians held nothing between al-H¯ and the Tigris.”1107 If indeed the Persians were pre-occupied with this . ıra state of affairs for a year, this then takes us to the time that B¯r¯ndukht became ua queen. Sayf conﬁrms this: after a year of warfare, Kh¯lid left Iraq and went to a Syria at around the same time that B¯r¯ndukht had come to power. As we saw ua earlier,1108 this was sometime in July 630/early 9 AH. According to the hijra dating provided by Sayf, however, Kh¯lid would have departed on 13 January 634 a
n. 161, de Goeje, 2037. As we shall see, however, they in fact is a reference to factions. 1102 Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 30–31, de Goeje, 2040–2041. ı . 1103 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 43, de Goeje, 2053. ı . 1104 Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 43–44, de Goeje, 2053. ı . 1105 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 44, de Goeje, 2053. ı . 1106 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 45, de Goeje, 2054. ı . 1107 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 45, de Goeje, 2054. ı . 1108 See the beginning of §3.3.

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Dhu l-Qa dah 12 AH.1109 Let us point out once more the discrepancy of more than three years that is at work here, if we would trust Sayf’s hijra dating. What, however, was happening during this year according to Sayf? While “Khalid stayed in ofﬁce for a year . . . before his departure for Syria, . . . [the] Persians were overthrowing kings and enthroning others, there being no defensive effort except at Bahuras¯ [Veh Ardash¯ 1110 And how did this state of ır ır].” affairs come about? “That was because Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d had slain all his [male] ır¯ a relatives descended” from Khusrow II, and “the people of Persia had risen after Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d and after Ardash¯ III.”1111 Kh¯lid, therefore, had remained in ır¯ a ır a command for a year before his departure for Syria. During this period he had written a letter to the kings of Persia. However, because there were no Sasanian kings during this period with any real power, there is no doubt that the kings referred to here were, in fact, the dynastic leaders in charge of the regional armies vying for power. What then happened to Kh¯lid’s correspondence with a the kings of Persia? When his dispatch “fell into the hands of the people of al-Mad¯ in, the women of Kisr¯’s family spoke up.” They put none other than a a “al-Farrukhz¯dh b. al-Bindaw¯n . . . in charge until such time as Kisr¯’s family a a a agreed on a man [to make king], if they could ﬁnd him.”1112 Here then we have ﬁnally come to the appointment of the Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd, as the prime minister of B¯r¯ndukht, the Sasanian queen. This, however, is one ua of those instances where the name of Farrukh Hormozd is mistakenly rendered as al-Farrukhz¯dh.1113 a We should recapitulate. Through the reign of the child king Ardash¯ III, the ır Persians tried to put up a defense against the Arab armies. The last commander sent to the war front was the P¯rs¯ leader Bahman J¯dh¯yih. For a whole a ıg a u year after the deposition of Ardash¯ III, the Iranian realm was then in turmoil. ır For at least three months during this period, the Parthian Shahrvar¯z in fact a usurped the Sasanian throne.1114 Sayf subsequently follows the course of the events, ﬁlling in the lacunae for this one year, for not only was Kh¯lid still in a charge on the Arab side, and hence had not yet left for Syria, but also on the Persian side the participants remained the same. The battle of Anb¯r a During this period, when the Persians were occupied with their internal concerns, a certain Sh¯ ad was unsuccessfully expending his efforts at defending ırz¯ Anb¯r. The lack of manpower at his disposal is highlighted when Sayf maina tains that the people of Anb¯r had fortiﬁed themselves, and Kh¯lid observed a a that he saw “groups of people . . . who had no knowledge of warfare,” ﬁghting for
p. 68, de Goeje, 2075. . p. 47, de Goeje, 2056. . 1111 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 47, de Goeje, 2056. ı . 1112 Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 47–48, de Goeje, 2056–2057. ı . 1113 See our discussion on page 187. 1114 See §3.2.3.
1110 Tabar¯ 1993, ı 1109 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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the Persians.1115 The commander, Sh¯ ad, sued for peace and even requested ırz¯ to be allowed to retreat. Kh¯lid granted his request. As Sayf’s prior report had a insisted, during this time Bahman J¯dh¯yih continued to lead the isolated war a u efforts of the Sasanians against the Arabs. It is to this chief commander, Bahman J¯dh¯yih therefore, that Sh¯ ad returned only to be reprimanded by him a u ırz¯ for his cowardice.1116 The battle of Ayn Tamr The context of the subsequent battle of Ayn Tamr tallies best with the short period during which Shahrvar¯z was in power (Muharram–Safar 9 AH/April– a June 630).1117 After the battle of Anb¯r, Kh¯lid proceeded to Ayn Tamr, which a a was defended by a Parthian Mihr¯nid, called Mihr¯n b. Bahr¯m J¯b¯ clearly a a a u ın, a descendent of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Blankinship notes that this “would be a a u ın. son of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ but objects that “in view of the fact the rebellion a u ın,” was put down and its adherents executed, it is unlikely that anyone from this family would reemerge as a commander of a frontier garrison at this late date[!]” He therefore dismisses this as “another case of Sayf’s adorning his reports with invented personages of illustrious ancestry.”1118 Enough has been said here about the agnatic structure of the dynastic families to put Blankinship’s remark in its proper context: Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was in all probability a direct a a u ın descendent of the Parthian dynastic rebel Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ The Arab tribes of a u ın. Namir, the Christian Taghlib, and the Iy¯d reportedly encouraged Mihr¯n to a a leave this war to them,1119 to which he agreed. But Mihr¯n together with his a Arab allies were defeated at the battle of Ayn Tamr. Since Mihr¯ns were now a commanding the war front, it is very likely that it was, in fact, Shahrvar¯z who a had sent them.1120 The battle of Fir¯d a. The next signiﬁcant Sasanian chronological indicator comes in the account of the battle of Fir¯d, where the Persian, Byzantines, and some Arab tribes joined a.
p. 50, de Goeje, 2060. . pp. 50–51, de Goeje, 2060. Ibn al-Ath¯ however, lists Sh¯ ad’s activities under ır, ırz¯ . ır the battle of Kaskar (see page 212 below). Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, p. 206. 1117 As we have seen, Heraclius and Shahrvar¯z met in July 629, but Shahrvar¯z’s forces had already a a began evacuation of the occupied territories in June 629. Sebeos 1999, p. 223. The Byzantines defeated the Muslims in September 629 CE, at the battle of Mut ah in Syria. Kaegi 1992, p. 67. How this ﬁts into the schema of affairs remains to be assessed. 1118 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 53, n. 289. ı . 1119 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 53, nn. 291–292, de Goeje, 2062. See also footnote 928. ı . 1120 Not much more can be said about the wars that are said to have taken place next, for very few Sasanian indicators are given. Although further research into the agnatic background of individuals appearing in these wars will probably clarify much. At the battle of D¯mat al-Jandal, the u Persian commanders R¯zbih and Zarmihr were again joined by Arab tribes, while another Persian u commander, Mahb¯dh¯n, took part in the battle of Husayd. In this latter war, both Zarmihr and u a . . R¯zbih were reportedly killed. Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 57–62, de Goeje, 2065–2069. u ı .
1116 Tabar¯ 1993, ı 1115 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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forces.1121 Although traditionally believed to have been in 12 AH/633 CE, based on Sayf’s hijra dating, we propose that it actually took place during Shahrvar¯z’s short reign. An attempted cooperation between the Byzantines and the a Persians at this juncture of history is quite plausible,1122 for Heraclius, we recall, had instigated the Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z to usurp the throne, and had promised a a him manpower as well.1123 Sayf then recounts the battle of Yarm¯k (in Syria) against the Byzantines, u which he is said to have pushed two years earlier [!] to the year 13 of hijra (634). We shall not be concerned with the ways in which our newly constructed chronology of events affect our knowledge of the conquest of Syria. We turn, instead, to the continuation of Sayf’s account on the early conquest of Iraq. The Sasanian chronological indicators in Sayf’s narrative continue to ﬁll in the gaps of the accounts that he has recently given: “The Persians . . . found order, one year after Kh¯lid had come to al-H¯ a little after Kh¯lid’s departure, under the a a . ıra, rule of Shahrvar¯z b. Ardash¯ b. Shahr¯ ar, one of the relatives of Kisr¯, and a ır ıy¯ a then under S¯b¯r.”1124 Here, Sayf is actually referring to events during Shahra u var¯z’s reign, except that we are thrown off by the hijra dating interjection a that Kh¯lid had departed in 12 AH/634 CE. Signiﬁcantly, when Sayf picks up a his narrative here, the Arab commander in charge is not Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ but a ıd, ır a Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha. Ibn al-Ath¯ notes that Muthann¯ came to H¯ after a . ıra .a Kh¯lid had left for Iraq.1125 a Now Shahrvar¯z sent a huge army against Muthann¯, this time commanded a a by Hormozd J¯dh¯yih.1126 The character of Hormozd J¯dh¯yih’s army is quite a u a u signiﬁcant: it was made up of mere “keepers of chickens and swine.” The names of the putative commanders given are al-Kawkabadh and al-Kh¯kbadh, which u are emended to al-Karukbadh and al-Kharukbadh by Tabar¯ editor.1127 The ı’s . whole point of the story, however, is that Shahrvar¯z’s army was made up of a mostly plebeian soldiers, as Muthann¯ observes, the rabble, who were “nothing a but keepers of chickens and swine.” Kawkab and khuk are in fact the Persian terms for chicken and swine respectively, and the sufﬁx badh means a guardian
1121 Among the tribes joining the Persian–Byzantine coalition, Tabar¯ mentions the Taghlib, the ı . Iy¯d, and the Namir. Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 57–62, de Goeje, 2065–2068. a ı . 1122 Because of the sorry state of the Byzantine armed forces at this juncture, it is likely that their aid could not have amounted to much, see Kaegi 1992, passim. 1123 See footnote 961. 1124 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 117, de Goeje, 2116. This S¯b¯ r was most likely Sh¯p¯ r-i Shahrvar¯z, the son ı a u a u a . of Shahrvar¯z, whom we will discuss on page 204 below. a 1125 Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 415. ır 1126 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 118, de Goeje, 2116. Ibn al-Ath¯ notes that the Iranian forces totaled 10,000 ı ır . men. Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 415. It is possible that this Hormozd J¯dh¯yih is the father of ır a u Bahman J¯dh¯yih: according to Khayy¯t, Bahman J¯dh¯yih was the son of Khorhormuzm¯n Dhu a u a. a u a ’l-H¯jib, and according to D¯ ınawar¯ Mard¯nsh¯h was the son of Hormoz. Khayy¯t 1977, p. 124. ı, a a a. .a Fred M. Donner in fact suggested in a private correspondence that the substitution of Bahman J¯da h¯yih for Hormozd J¯dh¯yih could also involve a scribal error, the orthography of the names being u a u very close in Arabic script. For an alternative conjecture, see footnote 1092. 1127 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 118, nn. 637–638, de Goeje, 2117. ı .

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or a keeper. No need to emend here! Some knowledge of Persian, however, would have helped in distinguishing names of genuine historical ﬁgures from ﬁctional or symbolic names, as is the case here.1128 Now the meaning of this passage in the context of the factional rivalries becomes clear. Once he assumed power, and especially since he usurped power, Shahrvar¯z was left with very little a support, as is evidenced by his short rule of three months. Apparently he was not able to bring to the war front enough manpower to put up a defense against the Arab armies; hence his use of the rabble and “groups of people . . . who [had] no knowledge of warfare.” a Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha and Shahrvar¯z reportedly exchanged letters at this a .a juncture. Shahrvar¯z boasted to Muthann¯: “I have sent against you an army a a consisting of the rabble of the Persians who are nothing but keepers of chickens and swine. I am not going to ﬁght you except with them.”1129 Sayf then provides us with further signiﬁcant internal indicators of factionalism. The Persians admonished Shahrvar¯z: “You have encouraged our enemy against us by a what you wrote to them. When you write to anyone, consult [us ﬁrst].”1130 Sayf informs us that Shahrvar¯z was killed around the same time that Hormozd a J¯dh¯yih was defeated,1131 in June 630. Sayf’s subsequent remark that after a u Shahrvar¯z had died, “the Persians quarreled amongst themselves. The lands of a the Saw¯d between the Tigris and Burs remained in the hand of the Muslims,” a indicates that he is here ﬁlling in the lacuna left in his previous accounts.1132 B¯r¯ndukht’s ﬁrst regency ua Then, Sayf maintains, after Shahrvar¯z, “the Persians agreed . . . on Dukht-i a Zab¯n, the daughter of Kisr¯, but no order of hers was carried out.”1133 This a a Dukht-i Zab¯n is of course B¯r¯ndukht, the ﬁrst queen of the Persians. Two a ua aspects of the Sasanian queens’ regency will occupy us next, before we will return to the conquests: First we need to establish the sequence of the rules of B¯r¯ndukht and Azarm¯ ua ıdukht, and next, we need to investigate what precisely transpired between the P¯rs¯ and the Pahlav factions. As we shall see, these two a ıg queries are related. Moreover, we need to assess the manner in which these internal processes affected the war efforts against the Arabs. Does Sayf’s narrative on the processes unfolding in the Sasanian domains continue to betray an internal logic? Why would the Persians choose B¯r¯ndukht but then refuse to obey ua her orders?

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p. 118, nn. 637–638. . p. 118, de Goeje, 2117. . 1130 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 118, de Goeje, 2117. ı . 1131 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 120, de Goeje, 2119. According to Ibn al-Ath¯ Hormozd J¯dh¯ yih left the ı ır, a u . war front when Shahrvar¯z was killed. Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 415. a ır 1132 According to Khal¯ ıfat b. Khayy¯t, after the battle of Ullays, Kh¯lid conquered Hurmuzjird a. a and B¯rusm¯, after which he sent Muthann¯ toward the market of Baghd¯d [probably Anb¯r] in a a a a a the year 10 AH. It is at this point that Kh¯lid was sent to Syria where he attacked (agh¯ra) the a a Ghassanids in Marj al-R¯hit. Khayy¯t 1977, p. 119. a . a. 1133 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 120, de Goeje, 2119. ı .
1129 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z a u a The continuation of Sayf’s narrative provides crucial information that clariﬁes the situation: When B¯r¯ndukht’s orders were rejected, she was “deposed, and ua S¯b¯r b. Shahrbar¯z was made king.”1134 Even more signiﬁcant information is a u a provided next. When Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z became king, “al-Farrukhz¯dh b. ala u a a Bindaw¯n took charge of the affairs.” It was from this Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z that a a u a al-Farrukhz¯dh b. al-Bindaw¯n asked for the hand of Azarm¯ a a ıdukht. Without doubt, al-Farrukhz¯dh b. al-Bindaw¯n is actually Farrukh Hormozd, this being a a another one of the many instances that his name is confused with his son Farrukhz¯d’s.1135 We recall that all of our accounts agree that Farrukh Hormozd a was the minister of B¯r¯ndukht. He was the same ﬁgure who claimed to be the ua “leader of the people and the pillar of the country of Iran,” and the same ﬁgure about whom our sources claim that “there was none greater . . . [than him] among the Persians.” As B¯r¯ndukht held very little power, it is certain that she ua was promoted to the throne by Farrukh Hormozd and his faction, the Pahlav faction. While we do not have any coinage for Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z, who vied a u a for kingship after B¯r¯ndukht’s deposition, we can conﬁrm nevertheless that ua he was a historical ﬁgure. Nonetheless, the P¯rs¯ while willing to collaborate a ıg, with the Mihr¯ns, had no intention of promoting once again one of them to a Sasanian kingship, as is clear from Shahrvar¯z’s fate after usurping the throne. a Therefore, if Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z aspired to Sasanian kingship, he must have a u a done so with very little support. 3.3.3 Azarm¯ ıdukht and the P¯rs¯ a ıg

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p. 120, de Goeje, 2119. the gentilitial connection to the Ispahbudh¯n Vind¯yih is legitimate, as we have a u argued on page 187. 1136 Thomson is therefore absolutely on the target when he makes this very assertion. Sebeos 1999, p. 225.
1135 However,

1134 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z’s aspirations, however, were cut short and Azarm¯ a u a ıdukht was raised to the throne with the aid of the P¯rs¯ faction. Numismatic eva ıg idence conﬁrms her reign, sometime in 630–631 CE. According to Tabar¯ ı, . Farrukh Hormozd then asked Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z “to marry him to Azarm¯ a u a ıdukht.” Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z obliged, but Azarm¯ a u a ıdukht became angry, saying: “O cousin, would you marry me to my slave?” Whether the complicity of Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z in Farrukh Hormozd’s attempt at marrying Azarm¯ a u a ıdukht is a spurious tradition or not, in folkloric garb Tabar¯ narrative highlights a ı’s . signiﬁcant dimension of the dynastic struggles that were transpiring at this juncture: the dynastic faction of the late Shahrvar¯z and his former army lent their a support to Azarm¯ ıdukht,1136 against the army of Azarb¯yj¯n and its leaders, a a Farrukh Hormozd and his sons, who had supported B¯r¯ndukht. ua We must yet again recapitulate: after Shahrvar¯z, B¯r¯ndukht was proa ua moted to the throne in 630 CE. Because her promotion was not agreed upon by all factions, however, she was deposed. The Mihr¯nid Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z, a a u a

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST §3.3: B URANDUKHT AND A ZARMIDUKHT

with or without the help of the P¯rs¯ then attempted to ﬁll in the vacant slot a ıg, after B¯r¯ndukht’s deposition. But the Pahlav faction did not agree to this. So ua Azarm¯ ıdukht was made queen, sometime later in 630 CE. Then comes a crucial aspect of the regency of the Sasanian queens, B¯r¯ndukht and Azarm¯ ua ıdukht. Here we ﬁnally realize why all our traditions, except for that of Sebeos, who is clearly in the wrong here, maintain that Farrukh Hormozd asked the hand of Azarm¯ ıdukht in marriage. Because Azarm¯ ıdukht was a P¯rs¯ candidate, the a ıg Pahlav leader Farrukh Hormozd, in asking for her hand, was trying to effect a modus vivendi with the P¯rs¯ faction. By marrying Azarm¯ a ıg ıdukht, he would have brought the two factions together. Our anecdotal tradition of Sayf also maintains that he sought to effect this union through the intermediary of the Mihr¯nid Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z. Azarm¯ a a u a ıdukht, however, declined. That Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z was the cousin of Azarm¯ a u a ıdukht is borne out by our evidence, underscoring the fact that, as the Ispahbudh¯n family had longa established familial ties with the Sasanians, so too did the Mihr¯ns, following an a age-old tradition of marrying into the ruling Sasanian dynasty. A sister of Khusrow II carried the name Mihr¯n1137 because she married into the Parthian Miha r¯n dynasty.1138 The name of her husband is not given in the sources. However, a if Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z was the offspring of this marriage, thus making Azara u a m¯ ıdukht and Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z cousins, then this sister of Khusrow II had a u a actually married the powerful Parthian Mihr¯nid dynastic leader Shahrvar¯z. In a a establishing Shahrvar¯z as the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of N¯ uz, therefore, Khusrow II a ea a ımr¯ had promoted his son-in-law to this important post.1139 Farrukh Hormozd as Hormozd V After Azarm¯ ıdukht’s refusal to marry Farrukh Hormozd, the latter no longer shied away from the throne itself. “Today I am the leader of the people and the pillar of the country of Iran,” he claimed.1140 And so, while Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvaa u r¯z’s assumption of Sasanian kingship is subject to doubt, that of the Prince of a the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd, is certain. All the evidence corroborates that the coinage of Hormozd V, minted in Stakhr in F¯rs and Nih¯vand in Media, a a belongs to Farrukh Hormozd, the Prince of the Medes.1141 Furthermore, Farrukh Hormozd’s attempt to co-opt Azarm¯ ıdukht in order to enhance his own
1137 Christensen 1944, p. 109–110, n. 2 and p. 104 respectively. She is denoted by δ in the genealogical tree on page 471. 1138 Justi 1895, p. 420. 1139 Sebeos maintains that Queen Bor (B¯ r¯ndukht), that is to say, Khusrow II’s daughter, rather ua than his sister, was Kho˙eam’s (Shahrvar¯z’s) wife. Sebeos 1999, p. 89. Since our Arabic or Persian r a sources do not conﬁrm this and, considering Sebeos’ general confusion about the identities of the Sasanian queens, this account may be merely an echo of the marital relationships between the Sasanians and the Mihr¯ns. a 1140 Ya q¯ bi 1969, vol. 1, p. 197, Ya q¯ bi 1983, pp. 214–215. u u 1141 Göbl, Robert, Sasanian Numismatics, New York, 1971 (Göbl 1971), p. 81. Incidentally, recall (see page 145) that Farrukh¯n, that is, Farrukh Hormozd himself, allegedly prognosticated this very a feat: “I had a dream, and it was as if I saw myself on Kisr¯’s throne.” Tabar¯ 1999, Tabar¯ 1999, a ı ı . . pp. 327–328, de Goeje, 1008.

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power—following the long established tradition of marriage alliance between the Ispahbudh¯n family and the Sasanians1142 —is also reﬂected in numismatic a evidence. For, among the coins of Azarm¯ ıdukht, who, according to various sources, ruled for a period ranging from four to six to sixteen months in 630– 631, there is one, struck in the ﬁrst regnal year, bearing the efﬁgy of a man. Moshiri, who discovered and studied the coin, argued that the efﬁgy belongs to Farrukh Hormozd, who came to power bearing the name Hormozd V and ruled simultaneously with Azarm¯ ıdukht for more than a year.1143 All of our contextual evidence emphasizes that this was, indeed, the case. To the illustrious list of the Parthian dynasts who ascended the Sasanian throne, all during the last half century of Sasanian rule, therefore, the name of Farrukh Hormozd must be added. Like his predecessors, however, Farrukh Hormozd’s attempt at usurping the Sasanian throne proved fatal, as is clear from Sayf’s subsequent narrative. This narrative bears out the complicity of another branch of the Mihr¯ns a with the P¯rs¯ candidate, Azarm¯ a ıg ıdukht, against the Pahlav leader Farrukh Hormozd. Faced with the obduracy of the Prince of the Medes, Azarm¯ ıdukht allegedly solicited the aid of S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ from the house of Mihr¯n. The dyıy¯ a ı a namic, needless to say, was probably the reverse of what is portrayed in our accounts. More likely it was Azarm¯ ıdukht who was under the control of the Mihr¯ns. According to Tabar¯ this S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ “who was one of the treacha ı, ıy¯ a ı, . erous killers among the Persians,” was the grandson of our famous Mihr¯nid a rebel Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 1144 With the aid of S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ Azarm¯ a u ın. ıy¯ a ı, ıdukht subsequently killed Farrukh Hormozd.1145 In search of a crown, therefore, the leader of the Pahlav lost his head, and thus ended the long career of the towering Parthian ﬁgure of Farrukh Hormozd, the Prince of the Medes, at the hand of the Mihr¯ns, who had joined the P¯rs¯ faction. a a ıg
page 110. M.I., Étude[s] de numismatique Iranienne sous les Sassanides, vol. I, Tehran, 1972 (Moshiri 1972), pp. 11–16; Moshiri, M.I., Étude[s] de numismatique Iranienne sous les Sassanides, ¯ vol. II, Tehran, 1997 (Moshiri 1997), pp. 209–212, cited in Gignoux, Philippe, ‘Azarm¯ ıgduxt’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007a (Gignoux 2007a), p. 190. 1144 According to Blankinship, S¯ avakhsh was “allegedly the grandson of the usurper Bahr¯m VI ıy¯ a (590–591 CE) [i.e., Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ He probably is yet another imaginary scion of a pre-Islamic house a u ın]. said to have been conquered by the Muslims in the early campaigns. Sayf improbably claims that he was the king of al-Rayy in 22/643 . . . His alleged father is mentioned above.” Tabar¯ 1993, p. 120, n. 652. ı . Emphasis added. We saw that his father, Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was the Iranian commander a a u ın, during the battle of Ayn Tamr; see page 201. Below, during the conquest of Rayy in 651, we will encounter another progeny of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ called S¯ avakhsh-i Mihr¯n-i Ch¯b¯ who was a u ın, ıy¯ a u ın, the ruler of Rayy; see §3.4.4. Sayf seems to imply that this is the same person as S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ ıy¯ a ı (literally, S¯ avakhsh from Rayy), but he then apparently contradicts himself by saying that the ıy¯ latter was killed by Rustam in 631. Justi also views these two ﬁgures as one and the same. Justi 1895, p. 300, n. 12. 1145 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 120, de Goeje, 2119. This episode is also reported almost verbatim by Ibn alı . ır ı ıy¯ a ı ı Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, pp. 415–416. Bal am¯ calls S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ the commander of the army (am¯r-i haras). Bal am¯ 1959, p. 259. ı .
1143 Moshiri, 1142 See

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST 3.3.4 §3.3: B URANDUKHT AND A ZARMIDUKHT

B¯ r¯ndukht and the Pahlav u a

The order of regency of the Sasanian queens that we have thus far established follows our conventional understanding of their chronology: after the murder of Shahrvar¯z, B¯r¯ndukht was placed on the throne, and once she was dea ua posed and succeeded by the ephemeral interlude of Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z, Azara u a m¯ ıdukht assumed power. In the process, Azarm¯ ıdukht’s faction killed Farrukh Hormozd, the Pahlav leader. This is all ﬁne and well. Except that this is not the end of the story of neither Azarm¯ ıdukht nor B¯r¯ndukht, nor, for that ua matter, of the Ispahbudh¯n family of Farrukh Hormozd. For one thing, as a was the case with other Parthian dynastic families, the murder of the scion of the Ispahbudh¯n house did not denote this Parthian dynastic family’s loss of a power. When the P¯rs¯ faction killed Farrukh Hormozd, his son Rustam in a ıg retribution killed the queen Azarm¯ ıdukht. B¯r¯ndukht, meanwhile, reappeared ua on the scene. Indeed, all of our sources, except Sebeos, systematically connect the regency of B¯r¯ndukht both to Farrukh Hormozd, whom she made her ua minister, and to his son, Rustam. We should recall, moreover, that while all of our sources emphasize the deposition of B¯r¯ndukht and the murder of Azarua m¯ ıdukht, none of them informs us of the fate of B¯r¯ndukht after her initial ua deposition. In search of an answer, we continue our investigation of Sayf. Sayf interrupts his account on the early conquest of Iraq, narrating the last days of the caliphate of Ab¯ Bakr (634), the death of the latter, and other u events pertaining to the ﬁrst caliph, once more throwing us off with his Islamic u chronological indicators.1146 After a report on Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha and Ab¯ a .a Ubayd,1147 Sayf ﬁnally continues his narrative on the conquest of the Saw¯d a with the battle of Nam¯riq under Muthann¯,1148 interposing almost forty-four a a pages,1149 before the Persian narrative is picked up again. a Sayf’s accounts of the wars in H¯ and the battle of Nam¯riq, as reported . ıra both in Tabar¯ and Ibn al-Ath¯ coincide with the death of Ab¯ Bakr and fall ı ır, u . two years after the inception of Yazdgird III’s rule, that is to say, in the year 13 AH /634 CE.1150 Sayf, however, is reverting back to internal conditions in the Sasanian realm, which must be discussed before we deal with his conquest narrative.1151 We stress, however, that the Sasanian chronological indicators are not referring to 13 AH/634 CE and the reign of Yazdgird III, but to the events after
1993, pp. 129–132, de Goeje, 2127–2129. Among the topics covered here we get, the . ceremonies for Ab¯ Bakr’s burial, Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 133–138, de Goeje, 2129–2132; his appearances, u ı . Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 138–139, de Goeje, 2132–2133; his genealogy, Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 139–140, de Goeje, ı ı . . 2133–2134; his wives, Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 140–141, de Goeje, 2134–2135; his appointment of Umar as ı . successor, Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 145–153, de Goeje, 2137–2144; the caliphate of the latter, Tabar¯ 1993, ı ı . . pp. 157–158, de Goeje, 2144–2145; the expedition of Fihl, and ﬁnally, the conquest of Damascus . and other regions, Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 159–173, de Goeje, 2145–2159. ı . 1147 Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 173–176, de Goeje, 2159–2162. ı . 1148 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 176, de Goeje, 2163. ı . 1149 In the translated version, and thirty-four in the de Goeje’s edition. 1150 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 177, de Goeje, 2163. ı . 1151 We will pick up the narrative with the battle of Nam¯riq on page 211 below. a
1146 Tabar¯ ı

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Azarm¯ ıdukht’s murder at the hand of Rustam in 631: “As often as the people would quarrel among themselves, B¯r¯n bt. Kisr¯ would act as an honest arbiter ua a until they composed their differences.”1152 The context of this sudden reappearance of B¯r¯ndukht is further elaborated: When “Farrukhz¯d b. al-Binduw¯n ua a a [i.e., Farrukh Hormozd] was slain, and Rustam came forward to kill Azarm¯dukht, ı . . . [B¯r¯ndukht] acted as an arbiter until she brought forth Yazdgird III.”1153 The ua signiﬁcant information that Sayf provides for us here, therefore, is that B¯r¯nua dukht was still alive after Azarm¯dukht was killed by Rustam and that she acted ı as an arbiter among the quarreling parties. In other words, B¯r¯ndukht, who ua had been put forward by the Pahlav faction under the leadership of the Ispahbudh¯n, eventually retrieved her status after overcoming the momentary ascena sion of her sister Azarm¯ ıdukht, who was supported by the P¯rs¯ faction. We a ıg therefore propose the following succession of the two queens: B¯r¯ndukht— ua Azarm¯ ıdukht—B¯r¯ndukht.1154 ua B¯r¯ndukht’s coinage during her ﬁrst regency ua A recent reassessment of the numismatic evidence for B¯r¯ndukht’s rule conua ﬁrms our analysis.1155 Malek and Curtis have argued that while “various traditions differ as to the length of her [i.e., B¯r¯ndukht’s] reign, ranging from six ua months to two years, . . . it is likely that she reigned for a little more than a year and perhaps the 1 year and 4 months referred to in a number of texts.” This, they argue, “is consistent with numismatic evidence.”1156 To support their argument, Malek and Curtis analyze the coinage of B¯r¯ndukht struck for years ua 1 to 3 of her rule. The Sasanians “dated their coins in accordance with regnal and not calendar years. Regnal years were [, in turn,] based on the New Year, . . . [since] the New Year in AD 629 fell on 17 June 629 this is likely to have been before B¯r¯n came to the throne. Her coins from regnal year 1 oa would [therefore] cover the period up to 16 June 630 and those of regnal year 2 would cover 17 June 630 to 16 June 631. Regnal year 3 would have started on 17 June 631.”1157 Signiﬁcantly, they conclude that while the “numismatic evidence cannot deﬁnitively assist in considering the precise dates of B¯r¯n’s oa reign, . . . it points to her reign as having started in the year 17 June 629 to 16 June 630 . . . [B¯r¯ndukht’s reign] in all probability . . . spanned 629 and 630 ua
p. 176, de Goeje, 2163. . p. 176, de Goeje, 2163. . 1154 It is also possible that for some period the two sisters ruled simultaneously, rather than sequentially. 1155 Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Malek, H.M., ‘History of the Sasanian Queen Boran (AD 629– 631)’, Numismatic Chronicle 158, (1998), pp. 113–129 (Curtis and Malek 1998), pp. 113–129. We should also recall that at some point during the reign of Azarm¯ ıdukht, Farrukh Hormozd imprinted his own efﬁgy on Azarm¯ ıdukht’s coins. Also see Daryaee, Touraj, ‘The Coinage of Queen B¯r¯n and its Signiﬁcance for Late Sasanian Imperial Ideology’, Bulletin of the Asia Institute 13, oa (1999), pp. 1–6 (Daryaee 1999). 1156 Curtis and Malek 1998, pp. 115–116. 1157 Curtis and Malek 1998, pp. 123.
1153 Tabar¯ 1993, ı 1152 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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and it is conceivable that it went into 631.”1158 Contrary to the assumption of the late Nöldeke, during whose time most of these coins had not yet been discovered,1159 this recent numismatic evidence indicates that B¯r¯ndukht started ua minting coins sometime between June 629 and June 630. However, we need to amend Malek and Curtis’s argument here slightly. We recall that Ardash¯ III ır was killed on 17 April 630 and Shahrvar¯z on 6 June 630, and so B¯r¯ndukht’s a ua regency was only accepted by all parties in late June 630. Hence the coins she had been minting in the year 1 were already in opposition to Ardash¯ III, before ır she was ofﬁcially ruling. This is conﬁrmed by Sayf’s remark that B¯r¯ndukht ua “was an opponent of Sh¯r¯ [i.e., Ardash¯r III1160 ] for a year.”1161 Her opposition ıa ı to Ardash¯ III also makes sense in view of the factional struggle during this ır period, when the N¯ uz¯ faction had abandoned the P¯rs¯ ımr¯ ı a ıg–Pahlav alliance that had brought Ardash¯ III to power and conspired with Shahrvar¯z to topır a ple the child king.1162 In response, the Pahlav must have started promoting her regency already during that period. This is remarkably conﬁrmed by her coinage, as almost all of the identiﬁable mints belong to Pahlav regions: six from ¯ Amul (AM), one from N¯ ap¯r (APL), two from Gurg¯n or Qum (GW), and ısh¯ u a two from Rayy (LD).1163 As we will establish below,1164 B¯r¯ndukht’s second ua regency, after the murder of Azarm¯ ıdukht by Rustam, lasted until Yazdgird III came to the throne in June 632. This, too, is in perfect accord with the ﬁndings of Malek and Curtis: B¯r¯ndukht’s regnal year 3 was from June 631 to June ua 632.1165

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and Malek 1998, p. 123. 1879, p. 433, Nöldeke 1979, p. 641. 1160 Ardash¯ III was also known as Ardash¯ ır ır-i Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, whence Sayf’s mention of his ır¯ a name as simply Sh¯ a. It is unlikely that he actually meant Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d here, for the latter died ır¯ ır¯ a sometime in 628. 1161 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 177, de Goeje, 2163. ı . 1162 See §3.2.3. 1163 We also have 18 coins of a mint called WYHC. As Malek and Curtis have argued, the WYHC mint “represents a major mint in the late Sasanian period, but its attribution is still to be conclusively established.” Numismatists have proposed various places: Veh-az-Amid-Kav¯d (Arraj¯n, in a a F¯rs); Veh Ardash¯ (Southern Iraq); Visp-shad-Husrav (Media); Nish¯buhr (N¯ ap¯r, in Khur¯a ır a ısh¯ u a s¯n). “The importance of this mint” under B¯r¯ndukht, Malek and Curtis argue, “is reinforced a ua by the number of drachms of regnal year 1 and the fact that the only bronze coins of B¯r¯n are oa from this mint.” Curtis and Malek 1998, pp. 119–125. In view of what has been argued in this work, the location of this mint would most likely be found in the Pahlav territories, and so we suggest reading WYHC as Visp-shad-Husrav in Media. I cannot explain the existence of the two mints from Kirm¯n (KL). The two from Her¯t (HL), however, might be explained by the fact that a a the K¯rins seem to have had a base there (recall that the K¯rinid Zarmihr was given control over a a Z¯bulist¯n by Khusrow I as reward for the K¯rin’s aid in the war against the Kh¯q¯n of the Turks; a a a a a see page 113). At any rate, these anomalies could also be explained by the existence of petty factions that had joined the ranks of the Pahlav in their support of B¯r¯ndukht. ua 1164 See pages 210ff and 218ff. 1165 For the continuation of our discussion of B¯ r¯ndukht’s coinage, see page 217ff below. ua
1159 Nöldeke

1158 Curtis

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§3.3: B URANDUKHT AND A ZARMIDUKHT C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

Azarm¯dukht’s deposition and murder ı Sayf maintains that after Azarm¯ ıdukht had become queen and after S¯ avakhshıy¯ i R¯z¯ had killed Farrukh Hormozd, “the Persians disputed amongst themselves a ı and were diverted from the Muslims, during the whole absence of Muthann¯ b. a H¯ritha, until he came back from Medina.” The deposed queen B¯r¯ndukht ua .a then reappears in Sayf’s account: when Muthann¯ returned from Medina, B¯a u r¯ndukht sent “the news to Rustam and urged him to set out.”1166 At this point, a Rustam “was in charge of the Khur¯s¯n frontier and advanced until he stopped aa at al-Mad¯ in.” On his way back from Khur¯s¯n, Rustam “defeated every army a aa of Azarm¯ ıdukht that he met.” He then besieged Ctesiphon, where he defeated and killed S¯ avakhsh. After capturing the capital, he blinded Azarm¯ ıy¯ ıdukht and established B¯r¯ndukht in her stead.1167 ua B¯r¯ndukht’s second regency ua Rustam’s rise to power occurred during the rule of B¯r¯ndukht, after the murua der of Azarm¯dukht. He took the place of his father, Farrukh Hormozd, and beı came the most important ﬁgure in B¯r¯ndukht’s realm—more important even ua than the queen herself, who is referred to as a mere arbiter. According to Sayf, B¯r¯ndukht invited Rustam “to manage the affairs of the Persians, whose weakua ness and decline she complained about to him.”1168 Beﬁtting the pretensions of his father, Rustam set up conditions for his family’s continued collaboration with the Sasanian queen B¯r¯ndukht: the queen should “entrust him [i.e., Rusua tam] with the rule for ten years,” at which point sovereignty would return “to the family of Kisr¯ if they found any of their male offspring, and if not, then a to their women.” B¯r¯ndukht accepted these conditions. She summoned the ua governors (mar¯zibah), that is, the other factions involved, the most important a of which was the P¯rs¯ umbrella faction, and declared that Rustam would be a ıg “in charge of the armed forces of Persia . . . There [would be] no one above you save God . . . Your judgment is applicable to them [i.e., the mar¯zibah] as long as a it leads to the protection of their land and their being united rather than divided.” Persia, therefore, Sayf concludes, submitted to Rustam after the coming of Ab¯ u Ubayd.1169 Finally, under the sovereignty of Rustam, after he had killed Azarm¯ ıdukht, with B¯r¯ndukht as the arbiter, the Pahlav and all the other factions ua agreed to cooperate. That the P¯rs¯ comprised the most important other faca ıg tion is corroborated by other sources. Ya q¯b¯ speciﬁcally conﬁrms this: when u ı

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p. 177, de Goeje, 2163. . p. 177, de Goeje, 2163. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 261. Some traditions maintain that the ı . queen was poisoned. Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 406–407, de Goeje, 1065. ı . 1168 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 177, de Goeje, 2163–2164. ı . 1169 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 177, de Goeje, 2164. Tabar¯ also contains a variant narrative about Azarm¯ ı ı ı. . dukht, Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z, Farrukhz¯d, and Rustam: after Shahrvar¯z, B¯r¯ndukht, rendered as a u a a a ua a a u a Shah-i Zan¯n in the text, “held sovereign power until they agreed on Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z.” Azarm¯ ıdukht then rose in opposition to the Mihr¯nid contender Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z, and killed him a a u a as well as Farrukh Hormozd. The news of this was given to Rustam, who was in charge of the Khur¯s¯n frontier, by B¯r¯ndukht. Tabar¯ 1993, p. 178, de Goeje, 2165. aa ua ı .
1167 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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“ Umar—naturally we shall ignore the Islamic signiﬁer here—sent Ab¯ Ubayd u . . . , together with an army to the aid of Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha, . . . B¯r¯ndukht a a ua . had assumed kingship and had installed Rustam and F¯r¯z¯n . . . in charge of ıu a the affairs of the kingdom.”1170 F¯ uz¯n, we recall, was one of the leaders of the ır¯ a P¯rs¯ faction.1171 The agreement of the P¯rs¯ to collaborate with the Pahlav, a ıg a ıg moreover, was precipitated not only by the fact that, in B¯r¯ndukht’s words, ua Persia was in a state of weakness and decline,1172 when already during the rule of Shahrvar¯z “from the Arab [regions] strong winds were blowing,”1173 but also a as a result of the fact that, temporarily at least, their Mihr¯nid accomplices had a been defeated by Rustam. As Sayf’s account underscores and as the subsequent course of the war efforts of the Sasanians betrays, however, this collaboration of the P¯rs¯ with the Pahlav was effected under unequal conditions, because a ıg Rustam had assumed a substantial share of power in the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy under the arbitership of B¯r¯ndukht. ua We have therefore answered our initial questions regarding the two Sasanian queens. The order of rule of these queens was: B¯r¯ndukht, Azarm¯ ua ıdukht, B¯u r¯ndukht—and for part of their candidacy they might have ruled in fact cona temporaneously. Each was promoted by a different faction: B¯r¯ndukht by ua the Pahlav, and Azarm¯ ıdukht by the P¯rs¯ During the second term of B¯a ıg. u r¯ndukht’s regency, the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ under the respective leadership a a ıg, of Rustam and F¯ uz¯n, began to cooperate. It is time, therefore, to turn our ır¯ a attention again to the war front. The battle of Nam¯riq a The immediate subsequent accounts given by Sayf have some points of interest for us, even though they are provided in a disjointed fashion. We will not be concerned with establishing a detailed sequence of these events.1174 According to Sayf, when Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha arrived in al-H¯ he stayed there for ﬁfteen a .a . ıra, nights. Rustam, meanwhile, summoned the dihq¯ns of al-Saw¯d. Most of the a a Iranian commanders appearing in the battle of Nam¯riq and the subsequent a battle of Kaskar, however, belong to the Pahlav faction. Rustam sent J¯b¯n1175 a a and Nars¯1176 to the region. J¯b¯n’s two wings were under the command of ı a a
1170 Ya q¯ bi u

1983, p. 25, Ya q¯bi 1969, vol. 2, p. 161: u

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pages 174ff and 196ff. p. 177, de Goeje, 2164. . 1173 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 731, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 465. a ı a ı 1174 As Donner notes the “exact sequence of these raids cannot . . . be reconstructed with any precision.” Donner 1981, p. 192. But see nevertheless our provisional reconstructed chronological table on page 468. 1175 The general who also fought at battle of Ullays and the battle of Maqr; see pages 195ff and 198ff. 1176 The brother of the Ardash¯ III’s minister M¯h¯dharjushnas; see footnotes 1061 and 1183. ır a a
1172 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

1171 See

211

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Jushnasm¯h,1177 and Mard¯nsh¯h.1178 In the battle of Nam¯riq, Jushnasm¯h is a a a a a killed and J¯b¯n defeated. Ibn al-Ath¯ maintains that Mard¯nsh¯h also fell at a a ır a a this battle.1179 The battle of Kaskar In the battle of Kaskar, which is reported next, the defeated Persians took refuge with Nars¯ At the news of the defeat at the battle of Nam¯riq, Rustam and ı. a B¯r¯ndukht ordered Nars¯ “[go] off to your estate and protect it from your ua ı: enemy and our enemy. Be a man.”1180 In the battle of Kaskar, Nars¯ two ı’s ﬂanks were “commanded by the two sons of his maternal uncle, who were the two sons of the uncle of Kisr¯, Bind¯yah [i.e., Vind¯yih] and T¯ uyah [i.e., a u u ır¯ a a T¯ uyih], the two sons of Bist¯m [i.e., Vist¯hm].”1181 This, therefore, was an ır¯ . Ispahbudh¯n dynastic army, which was, quite appropriately, brought into the a ﬁeld by the Parthian Rustam.1182 Moreover, Nars¯ as Sayf informs us, “was the ı, son of Kisr¯’s maternal aunt and Kaskar was [in fact] an estate of his.”1183 The a powers of Nars¯ are described next. Nars¯ would protect his estates, “neither did ı ı humanity eat [of] it, nor did anyone plant it besides them or the king of Persia . . . for this property was a protected reserve (him¯).”1184 The generals leading Nar. a s¯ two ﬂanks, Vist¯hm’s sons Vind¯yih and T¯ uyih, were the two “sons of his ı’s a u ır¯ [Nars¯ maternal uncle, who were [in turn] the two sons of the uncle of Kisr¯ ı’s] a [i.e., Khusrow II].”1185 M¯h¯dharjushnas, Ardash¯ III’s minister, furthermore, a a ır was a brother of Nars¯ and was already killed by Shahrvar¯z in 630.1186 The ı, a close association that the names of the members of a dynastic family must have had, explains probably his posthumous presence on the battleﬁeld in Sayf’s narrative.1187 Although Blankinship recognized these familial connections, he
1177 See page 212 below, explaining this posthumous appearance of Jushnasm¯h, i.e., M¯h¯dhara a a jushnas. 1178 It is quite unlikely that this Mard¯nsh¯h is the P¯rs¯ leader Bahman J¯dh¯ yih; see page 213 a a a ıg a u below. Also see Blankinship’s notes on these, Tabar¯ 1993, nn. 903–904. ı . 1179 Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 435. ır 1180 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 182, de Goeje, 2168. ı . 1181 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 183, n. 923, de Goeje, 2169. ı . 1182 See §3.3.1 for the Ispahbudh¯n, and page 471 for a genealogical tree of this family. a 1183 This maternal aunt is a sister of Vist¯hm and Vind¯ yih, marked γ in our reconstructed gea u nealogical tree on page 471. 1184 In an interesting side note in Bal am¯ narrative, the author informs us that it was Khusrow ı’s II Parv¯ who had given the villages of Kaskar to Nars¯ as a ﬁef (iqt¯ ), and that Nars¯ had been ız ı ı .a ruling these for 10 years. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 286. Because these wars were being fought during the ı second term of B¯r¯ndukht, probably in 631, Khusrow II’s grant of Kaskar to Nars¯ must have ua ı been around 621 at the height of Khusrow II’s victory against the Byzantines. Morony, however, dates this to 624 CE. Morony 1984, p. 186. 1185 See footnote 1183 above. 1186 See page 181. 1187 Morony notes that the Parthian dynastic family under Nars¯ also had royal lineage. Morony ı 1984, pp. 185–186, n. 27. In any case, the familial ties of the Ispahbudh¯n to the Sasanians had a a long history. Recall to this effect for instance Qub¯d’s marriage with Aspebedes’ sister discussed on a page 110. For a reconstruction of Nars¯ family, see also the family tree on page 471. ı’s

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objected: “As this Bist¯m [Vist¯hm] fought against Khusrow II for ten years a .a (circa 591–601 CE) in a devastating civil war for the Persian crown, [however,] it is not likely that any of Bist¯m’s relatives would enjoy later prominence, least of all .a his sons, especially as there is no mention of this family after 601 CE, except in the reports of Sayf b. Umar1188 . . . this is another instance of Sayf adorning his reports with claimed descendants of defunct pre-Islamic noble houses.”1189 In line with their earlier cooperation with the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ in topa ıg pling Khusrow II, an Armenian contingent also joined Rustam’s war efforts. For, as Sayf maintains, when the news of J¯b¯n and Nars¯ imminent defeat a a ı’s was brought to Rustam and B¯r¯ndukht, they sent J¯l¯ us to their aid.1190 J¯ua a ın¯ a l¯ us “was commanded to begin by Nars¯ [, i.e., presumably aiding Nars¯ and ın¯ ı ı] then to ﬁght Ab¯ Ubayd.” Nars¯ and his followers hoped that J¯l¯ us would u ı a ın¯ “get to them before the battle.”1191 But Ab¯ Ubayd “hastened against him [i.e., u Nars¯ leading his army off before al-J¯l¯ us had drawn near . . . [and so] God ı], a ın¯ defeated the Persians [and] Nars¯ ﬂed.”1192 In the engagement that followed, the ı Muslims defeated J¯l¯ us as well, and the latter ﬂed.1193 How wholeheartedly a ın¯ J¯l¯ us sought to engage the Arabs is not clear, but Sayf’s subsequent remarks a ın¯ indicate that J¯l¯ us’s efforts were reserved. The numbers under his command a ın¯ might have also been exaggerated. What ﬁnally led to the defeat of the Pahlav forces that Rustam had sent to the war front, therefore, cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty. Perhaps, as Donner puts it, the fact that the Arab forces had fanned out in the agricultural heartland of central Iraq had something to do with this.1194 It is equally important to note, however, that, except for the Armenian contingent of J¯l¯ us, who arrived too late, at any rate, the a ın¯ forces that were brought to bear in these wars comprised only the Pahlav faction. Without a doubt, the general Mard¯nsh¯h in Nars¯ army was not the a a ı’s a ın¯ P¯rs¯ leader Bahman J¯dh¯yih Dhu ’l-H¯jib,1195 for it was only after J¯l¯ us, a ıg a u .a too, was defeated, that Rustam brought in the P¯rs¯ faction, and cemented his a ıg collaboration with the P¯rs¯ forces under the leadership of Bahman J¯dh¯yih a ıg a u and F¯ uz¯n, leading to one of the only Persian victories against the Arabs: the ır¯ a battle of Bridge.

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a rebuttal of this particular objection of Blankinship, see page 462 below. p. 183, n. 923. . 1190 For J¯l¯ us’ possible identity, see footnote 846. a ın¯ 1191 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 183, de Goeje, 2169. J¯l¯ us is said to have brought to the front 20,000 men. ı a ın¯ . Ibid., p. 183, n. 923; Bal am¯ 1959, p. 287 and pp. 185–186. ı 1192 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 183, de Goeje, 2169. ı . 1193 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 186, de Goeje, 2172. ı . 1194 Donner 1981, p. 192. 1195 See page 196ff. Recall that according to Sayf, this general Mard¯nsh¯h died at the battle of a a Nam¯riq, whereas Bahman J¯dh¯yih only died in 642, at the battle of Isfah¯n; see page 247ff. a a u . a
1189 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

The battle of Bridge

The battle of Bridge may serve as the quintessential episode of Sasanian history illustrating both the strengths and weaknesses of the dynasty’s four centuries of rule. While the failure of the Iranian war efforts thus far can be attributed to many factors, one of the most important of which was the P¯rs¯ a ıg– Pahlav debacle, there is no doubt that a paramount cause of the Iranian victory over the Arabs in the battle of Bridge—a victory that was never again repeated— was the unprecedented agreement between the P¯rs¯ and the Pahlav to forge an a ıg alliance under queen B¯r¯ndukht, the arbiter. ua The P¯rs¯g and the Pahlav a ı The unique articulation of this paradigmatic dimension of Sasanian history, that is, the crucial centrality of the Pahlav and P¯rs¯ terms of identity, is only explica ıg itly stated by Sayf and, based on Sayf, by Ibn al-Ath¯ Recounting the conquest ır. of the Saw¯d, Ibn al-Ath¯ pauses to inform the reader about the internal tura ır moil that had swallowed up Iran during this period. “At this time, the people [of Iran] had divided into two groups: The fahlawaj [Pahlav] were supporting Rustam, while the inhabitants of F¯rs (ahl-i f¯rs) were backing F¯ uz¯n.”1197 What a a ır¯ a we have here, therefore, is a direct conﬁrmation of one of the central theses of this study: the over-arching P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav dimension of the Sasanian polity throughout their reign, and especially during the period examined in the course of this investigation. Sayf and Ibn al-Ath¯ however, continue to maintain the ır, untenable hijra–Sasanian chronological indicators, claiming that the battle of Bridge took place during B¯r¯ndukht’s regency (630–632), but maintaining at ua the same time that this was the year 13 of hijra (634). The chronology of the battle of Bridge, therefore, is one of the many examples of the chronological discrepancies which we have mentioned before, and all, including Blankinship, have remarked on. We also ﬁnd the above account in Tabar¯ description of the battle of ı’s . Bridge.1198 Based on a faulty reading, however, this incredible piece of information on late Sasanian history is rendered meaningless in the recent translation of Tabar¯ opus. To begin with, in two different translations, the term fahlawaj, ı’s . the obvious Arabicized version of the Middle Persian term Pahlav, has been rendered as al-Fahl¯j. Under the account of the battle of Bridge, therefore, we u get the following translation, which curiously and, as we shall see, justiﬁably,

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1197 Ibn
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1198 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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p. 188, de Goeje, 2174–2176:

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1196 Also

called the battle of Quss, al-Qarqus, Quss al-N¯tif, or al-Mawahah. a. . al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 440: ır

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Goeje, 2608. page 241ff. 1201 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 189, n. 945, de Goeje, 2176. ı . 1202 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 193, de Goeje, 2608. Under the fahlawaj, Juynboll notes that “he has not found ı . another reference to” these. He gives however, a reference to Schwartz, Paul, Iran im Mittelalter nach den arabischen Geographen, Leipzig, 1896 (Schwartz 1896), p. 829. Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 193, n. 657. ı . 1203 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 193, de Goeje, 2608. ı .
1200 See

1199 de

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includes a twist that appears in Sayf’s narrative, but not in Ibn al-Ath¯ verır’s sion: “When the Persians were trying to cross [the Euphrates during the battle of Bridge], the news came to them that the people of Mad¯ in had revolted a against Rustam, breaking that which was between them and him. They became two parties, al-Fahl¯j [sic] against Rustam and the Persians against al-Fayr¯z¯n.” u u a In Sayf’s narrative, therefore, we also get the dichotomous division of the people of Mad¯ in into two parties, the fahlawaj and the Persians. Why, however, does a Sayf here maintain that the Pahlav had revolted against Rustam, their leader, and that the ahl-i f¯rs had gathered in opposition to F¯ uz¯n? We shall attempt a ır¯ a an answer to this later in this section. For now we should note the following: In the index to the translation of Tabar¯ the term al-Fahl¯j (i.e., fahlawaj) is deı u . scribed as a party or ethnic group. A note explains that the term is “[d]eﬁned in Tabar¯ I, 2608,1199 as the people from between al-B¯b [Darband] and Hulw¯n ı, a a . . in the region of al-Jib¯l in western Iran.” As we know by now, of course, the a term Pahlav denotes a considerably larger territory than that delimited here by Tabar¯ The only reason Tabar¯ restricts his deﬁnition to the inhabitants of the ı. ı . . Jib¯l in the aforementioned section is that, in this case, he is relating the account a of the future battle of Nih¯vand1200 squarely within the Jib¯l region.1201 The a a correct reading of this term, once again, is not Fahl¯j but fahlawaj (Pahlav).1202 u Blankinship, however, is correct in considering the term as a party or ethnic group. For in fact Pahlav, as we have argued extensively through the course of this study, refers to the ethnicon of the Parthians who, through the course of the Sasanian history, consciously maintained their identity. There is very little doubt, although the precise details await further research, that the Pers¯ ıs–Parthian (ahl-i f¯rs–fahlawaj) division, unique to Sayf’s accounts a as reconstructed both in Tabar¯ and Ibn al-Ath¯ comprised, on a very broad ı ır, . level, a regional division as well: the quarters of the south and west versus the quarters of the north and east. This regional division comes across quite clearly in Tabar¯ account on the battle of Nih¯vand, to be discussed in more detail ı’s a . shortly. When the Sasanian monarch, here correctly maintained to be Yazdgird III, is said to have issued a call for making a stance vis-à-vis the Arab armies in Nih¯vand, Tabar¯ maintains that thus, “one after the other, there arrived a ı . those living in the territory between Khur¯s¯n and Hulw¯n, those living in the aa a . territory between al-B¯b [i.e., Darband] and Hulw¯n, and those living in the a a . territory between Sijist¯n [i.e., S¯ an] and Hulw¯n.” Tabar¯ account goes on a ıst¯ a ı’s . . to summarize these groupings: “The cavalry of F¯rs and of the Fahl¯j [sic], the a u inhabitants of al-Jib¯l joined forces.”1203 In a second conﬁguration, immediately a

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§3.3: B URANDUKHT AND A ZARMIDUKHT C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

following this, Tabar¯ makes this dichotomous territorial division even more luı . cid: “Those hailing from [1a] the territory between B¯b (al-Abw¯b) and Hulw¯n a a a . numbered thirty thousand troops, those hailing from [1b] the territory between Khur¯s¯n and Hulw¯n numbered sixty thousand, and those hailing from [2a] aa a . the territory between Sijist¯n and F¯rs and [2b] Hulw¯n, numbered sixty thoua a a . sand.”1204 If one were to conceptualize this division schematically, one would see that it roughly corresponds to the quadripartition into k¯sts implemented u during the rule of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an. A corrective to the four-fold terriırv¯ torial division given here by Tabar¯ is that the ﬁrst area [1a], between Darband ı . (B¯b) and Hulw¯n, naturally included Armenia with a number of its dynastic a a . factions which were ﬁghting the Arabs alongside the Iranians. Furthermore, because this is a description of the battle of Nih¯vand, it naturally excludes the a Saw¯d and Mesopotamian territories of the Sasanian empire, which had already a been conquered by the Arabs in the battle of Q¯disiya.1205 As we shall see later a on as well—and we are jumping ahead of our narrative here1206 —by the time the battle of Nih¯vand took place the Parthian general Rustam had already died at a the battle of Q¯disiya. Thus the army command at this point was taken over a by the P¯rs¯ leader, F¯ uz¯n: “[and] they all set out to him [F¯ uz¯n], one after a ıg ır¯ a ır¯ a the other.”1207 It is a testimony to the reliability of the secondary and tertiary sources for Sasanian studies, that this incredible, crucial, piece of information provided by Sayf, that is, the existence of a split between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ factions, a ıg is corroborated by our primary sources, namely by the recently discovered seals examined in this study, where, as we have seen, some of the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbeds on ea a these seals insist on their afﬁliation as a Parthian aspbed, aspbed-i pahlaw,1208 while others identify themselves as aspbed-i P¯rs¯g,1209 that is, Persian aspbed. a ı The terminology that they adopt for rendering this ethnic division, furthermore, is Pahlav, fahlaw or fahlawaj, and P¯rs¯g, what in Sayf’s narrative has a ı been rendered as ahl-i f¯rs (the people of F¯rs). a a The battle of Bridge Let us return to our narrative on the battle of Bridge. Rustam’s recognition of the P¯rs¯ prowess is reﬂected in Sayf’s subsequent narrative. After J¯l¯ a ıg’s a ın¯s was defeated at the battle of Kaskar and had returned to Rustam, the latter u

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1204 With the numbers given here we are naturally not concerned, although as a ratio of the forces brought to the ﬁeld by the two factions, these too might be revealing. Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 193, de ı . Goeje, 2608. 1205 So with these amendments, the above regional division roughly corresponds to the Pahlav a ıg regions [1a] of the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n and [1b] of the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n, and the P¯rs¯ regions [2a] u a a a u aa of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z and [2b] of the k¯st-i khwarbar¯n. u e o u a 1206 See §3.4.3. 1207 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 193, de Goeje, 2608. ı . 1208 Gyselen 2001a, seal 1b of a ﬁgure called D¯d-Burz-Mihr, p. 36, and the personal seal of this a same ﬁgure, seal A, p. 46. See also the table on page 470. 1209 Gyselen 2001a, seal 2c, p. 39, and the personal seal of this same ﬁgure, seal B, p. 46.

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST §3.3: B URANDUKHT AND A ZARMIDUKHT

asked: “which of the Persians is the strongest in ﬁghting the Arabs in your opinion?” He was directed to the P¯rs¯ leader Bahman J¯dh¯yih,1210 whom a ıg a u he then put in charge of the Armenian faction. The chain of command that he established, moreover, reveals the friction between him and the Armenian dynasts. For Rustam ordered Bahman J¯dh¯yih thusly: if J¯l¯ us “returns to the a u a ın¯ like of his defeat, then cut off his head.”1211 Beﬁtting his status, Bahman J¯dh¯a u yih was given the Great Standard (derafsh-i K¯v¯y¯n).1212 In giving us a folkloric a ı a etymology for this general’s epithet Dhu ’l-H¯jib, Ibn al-Ath¯ highlights the ır .a seniority of Bahman J¯dh¯yih, maintaining that he was such an old man that a u he was forced to keep his eyebrows somehow maintained upwards in order to see in front of his own steps.1213 Thus, the P¯rs¯ leader Bahman J¯dh¯yih, under the tacitly acknowledged a ıg a u leadership of the Pahlav leader Rustam, commanded 30,000 of the grandees of the ajam at the battle of Bridge,1214 defeating the Arab armies in battle. Although Tabar¯ dates this event to 13 AH/634CE, in a ﬂagrant chronological ı . invention, there is little doubt that the battle of Bridge was, in fact, fought during the second term of B¯r¯ndukht’s regency,1215 after the murder of Azarua m¯ ıdukht, when the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ factions ﬁnally joined forces under a ıg the supreme command of Rustam sometime in 630–631, and not, as hitherto believed, in 634–635 CE. B¯r¯ndukht’s coinage during her second regency ua Signiﬁcantly, B¯r¯ndukht’s coinage of the second and third year of her reign, ua and not of the ﬁrst year, when most of the mints are from Pahlav lands,1216 reﬂects the P¯rs¯ acceptance of her regency. For it is only for the second and a ıg third year that we have found numerous coins minted in S¯ an, Khuzist¯n, and ıst¯ a F¯rs,1217 regions under the control of the P¯rs¯ The number of coins found a a ıg. for B¯r¯ndukht minted in S¯ an (SK) during these two years is amazing: 44 for ua ıst¯ her second regnal year and 59 for her third.1218 There is no doubt, therefore, that once B¯r¯ndukht assumed power after the murder of Azarm¯ ua ıdukht, the P¯rs¯ of the quarters of the south recognized her authority and joined forces a ıg with the Pahlav, the original faction to promote the queen, at the battle of Bridge, an engagement that could have potentially saved the Sasanian empire
argued on page 196ff, he is also referred to as Mard¯nsh¯h or Dhu ’l-H¯jib. a a .a p. 188, de Goeje, 2174. . 1212 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 188, de Goeje, 2174–2175. ı . 1213 Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 251; Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 437. a ı ır 1214 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 287. Tabar¯ 1993, p. 190, de Goeje, 2176–2177. ı ı . 1215 As B¯ r¯ndukht was only the candidate of the Pahlav faction during her ﬁrst regnal year, it is ua improbable that such a united opposition could have happened during her ﬁrst regency. 1216 See page 208. 1217 Curtis and Malek 1998, pp. 124–128. 1218 Others include one coin from Ardash¯ Khurrah (ART) in F¯rs, ﬁve from Hormozd Ardash¯ ır a ır (AW) in Khuzist¯n and ﬁve from Stakhr (ST) in F¯rs. The latter, as well as Kirm¯n, for which we a a a have one coin from the second year, also minted coins in her ﬁrst year. Curtis and Malek 1998, pp. 124–128.
1211 Tabar¯ 1993, ı 1210 As

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and averted the subsequent disaster. For the cooperation of the P¯rs¯ with a ıg the Pahlav ﬁnally payed off: they “inﬂicted a disastrous defeat on the Muslim forces.”1219 A victory interrupted In the midst of their victory at the battle of Bridge, however, something went terribly amiss. And as Morony maintains, that something was the resurgence of the factional strife in the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon.1220 The Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ had, once again, broken ranks. For, “as the Persians were trying to cross a ıg [the bridge], the news came to them that the people of al-Mad¯ in [Ctesiphon] a had revolted against Rustam.”1221 Ibn al-Ath¯ narrative informs us, signiﬁır’s cantly, that, at this time, “the people had divided into two camps: The fahlawaj were supporting Rustam and the pars¯g were supporting F¯ uz¯n.”1222 Bal am¯ ı ır¯ a ı’s narrative, furthermore, lends tremendous support to our contention that something in the successful cooperation of the Pahlav with the P¯rs¯ had gone awry a ıg in the midst of the battle of Bridge. In the midst of the Iranian triumph, while Bahman J¯dh¯yih was about to cross the bridge in pursuit of the ﬂeeing Arab a u army, “news reached Muthann¯ that the army of the ajam has risen against a T¯r¯n [i.e., B¯r¯ndukht] and they do not accept her in power and they have ua ua become fed up (b¯z¯r) with the rule (sipahs¯l¯r¯) of Rustam.”1223 There was, ı a aa ı in other words, once again a revolt against Rustam’s leadership. There is no doubt that the P¯rs¯ led the rebellion in the capital. For, as Sayf informs us, a ıg the insurgents were asking for Bahman J¯dh¯yih, who had been recalled by B¯a u u r¯ndukht.1224 Moreover, after the uprising, the Sasanian queen B¯r¯ndukht was a ua killed, presumably strangled by the P¯rs¯ leader F¯ uz¯n.1225 a ıg ır¯ a The battle of Buwayb The battle of Buwayb (near K¯fa),1226 reported next and depicted as leading to u a major victory for the forces of Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha, is most probably part a .a of a Muthann¯ lore, added to the accounts of the battle of Bridge and intended a to “enhance the reputation of al-Muthann¯ and of his tribe . . . [in order] to a counter the disgrace of his humiliating defeat at the battle of Bridge.”1227 And
1991, p. 205. 1991, p. 205. 1221 The story is reported through three different isn¯d: al-Sari b. Yahy¯ — Shu ayb — Sayf — a . a Muhammad; Talha; and al-Ziy¯d. Tabar¯ 1993, p. 188, de Goeje, 2174. a . ı . . . 1222 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 189, and n. 945 and 946, de Goeje, 2176. Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, pp. 156–158 and ı ır . p. 160. 1223 Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 290–291. ı 1224 Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 290–291. ı 1225 Seert 1918. 1226 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 197, de Goeje, 2184. ı . 1227 Donner 1981, pp. 198–200, here p. 199. According to Ya q¯ b¯ the battle of Madh¯r took place u ı, a in 14 AH/635 CE, although he continues to put this in the context of B¯r¯ndukht’s rule, providing ua even the signiﬁcant information that after this battle and the battle of Buwayb, which presumably takes place next, and as a result of their defeats, the Persians revolted against Rustam and F¯ uır¯
1220 Morony 1219 Morony

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indeed the Sasanian account looses its internal cohesion here. For, while toward the end of the battle of Bridge it is made clear that the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav alliance had failed, in the accounts of the battle of Buwayb, and without further explanation, F¯ uz¯n and Rustam are depicted as working side by side again.1228 So, if at all ır¯ a historic, we must date this battle as having taken place earlier than the battle of Bridge.1229 The subsequent thick-headed refusal of the P¯rs¯ and the Pahlav to a ıg continue to cooperate is highlighted by the queen’s presumed protest to Rustam and F¯ uz¯n: “Why will the Persians not go forth against the Arabs as they used ır¯ a to go forth before today.” The Persians responded to her that fear “was with our enemy at that time but is among us today.”1230

3.4

Yazdgird III: Arab conquest of Iran

Sayf then starts narrating “what stirred up the matter of al-Q¯disiyyah.”1231 a The Persians reprimanded Rustam and F¯ uz¯n:1232 “To where are you being ır¯ a carried? Dispute has not left you alone, so that you have weakened the Persians and made their enemies greedy.” The imminent mutiny of the whole constituency of the two factions against their respective leaders is further highlighted in Sayf’s subsequent account: The “two of you have not reached such a rank that Persia will concur with you in this opinion and that you expose it to perdition. After Baghd¯d, S¯b¯t, and Tikr¯ there is only Mad¯ in. By God, a a a. ıt, a either the two of you unite, or else we will indeed begin with you.”1233 Threatened by rebellion against them, F¯ uz¯n and Rustam agreed to cooperate yet ır¯ a again.1234
z¯n and ﬁnally brought Yazdgird III to power. The Sasanian chronological indicator provided by a Ya q¯b¯ in other words remains those provided by Sayf. Ya q¯bi 1983, pp. 24–25. u ı u 1228 When the news reached Rustam and F¯ uz¯n that Muthann¯ was calling for reinforcement, ır¯ a a “the two of them agreed to send forth Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ Blankinship notes that the father of a a ı.” Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ was one “Mihrbund¯dh or B¯dh¯n. He is mentioned twice in poetry quoted by a a ı a a a ¯ a Ab¯ Mikhnaf.” Ibn al-Az¯dbih, who led the two ﬂanks of Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ army was evidently u a a ı’s ¯ a the son of the governor of H¯ Az¯dbih. Mard¯nsh¯h, the other commander, was most likely a a . ıra, none other than Bahman J¯dh¯yih. A Shahrvar¯z also appears in these wars. If the historicity a u a of the battle of Buwayb is to be valid, this Shahrvar¯z was in all probability a descendent of the a infamous Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z. Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ was killed in this war, and so was Shahrvaa a a a ı, r¯z, the commander of Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ light cavalry. Tabar¯ 1993, pp. 205–206 and p. 208, a a a ı’s ı . de Goeje, 2192, 2194. Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, p. 161. Once Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ was killed, the army ır a a ı of the Persians ﬂed and the leadership of the army was taken up by F¯ uz¯n. Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, ır¯ a ır pp. 163–164. 1229 See Table 6.1 on page 468. 1230 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 204, de Goeje, 2189. ı . 1231 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 221, de Goeje, 2209. ı . 1232 Presumably after the unsuccessful completion of their victory at the battle of Bridge, when the Persians were “held . . . back from [dealing with] their enemy.” Tabar¯ 1993, p. 222, de Goeje, 2209; ı . see also page 218. 1233 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 222, de Goeje, 2209. ı . 1234 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 222, de Goeje, 2209. This threat against the leadership of Rustam and F¯ uz¯n ı ır¯ a . is given in two different versions carrying two different chains of transmission through Sayf. Tabar¯ ı . 1993, pp. 221–222, de Goeje, 2209.

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§3.4: YAZDGIRD III C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

So, right after their victory at the battle of Bridge and after B¯r¯ndukht was ua deposed and ﬁnally killed, the debilitating rivalry of the interregnum 628–632 between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ over the control of the Sasanian monarchy a ıg ended. Under the respective leadership of Rustam and F¯ uz¯n, the Pahlav and ır¯ a the P¯rs¯ agreed to support Yazdgird III’s ascendancy. Some time after his a ıg accession occurred the putative watershed of the Sasanian demise: the battle of Q¯disiya. When Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha sent the news of Yazdgird III’s election a a .a to kingship to Umar, Sayf continues, the “letter did not reach Umar before the people of al-Saw¯d had rebelled (kafara), both those who had an agreement a [with the Muslims] and those who had no agreement.”1235 Muthann¯ led his a own garrison until they stopped at Dh¯ Q¯r. Here Umar’s response came u a to the Arabs: “regroup and become earnest, as the Persians have now become earnest.”1236 This, Sayf maintains, “was in Dh¯ ’l-Qa dah of the year 13 (early u 635).”1237 This chronology provided by Sayf is the most plausible among all the dates provided by our sources for the battle of Q¯disiya. As we shall see, not only a did the Pahlav take their time before coming to terms with the P¯rs¯ slaying a ıg’s of their candidate, B¯r¯ndukht, and subsequently accepting the kingship of the ua P¯rs¯ nominee, Yazdgird III, but throughout this time their leader, Rustam, a ıg was also averse to engaging the Arab armies. Rustam, the immortal hero of Q¯disiya, was, in fact, reluctant to ﬁght. He followed a policy of procrastinaa tion through diplomatic correspondences with the Arabs before he was actually forced into battle. All of this took time. Numismatic evidence conﬁrms the date of the battle of Q¯disiya as 634–635 CE or, perhaps, a year afterwards. Were it a not for this evidence and in view of the all too blatant problems with the hijra chronology for the previous battles, we would have continued to have difﬁculties in determining an exact date for the battle of Q¯disiya. Unlike the data a at our disposal for the previous period, the Sasanian chronological indicators from here on can no longer aid us in our analysis: all the subsequent engagements of the Arabs against the Iranians took place during the reign of the last Sasanian monarch Yazdgird III (632–651), so that we can no longer rely on the accession and deposition of various monarchs in order to trace the chronology of the Sasanian efforts against the Arab armies. Nevertheless, until the murder of the last Sasanian king Yazdgird III sometime in 651, we can still continue to trace the general contours of the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav dynamic and its effects on the Arab conquest of Iran.

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Yazdgird III’s coinage Before we proceed, however, a word needs to be said about the numismatic evidence pertaining to the initial years of the kingship of Yazdgird III. For this evidence helps not only to delimit the chronology of the battle of Q¯disiya, a
1236 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

p. 223, de Goeje, 2210. . p. 223, de Goeje, 2210. . 1237 Tabar¯ 1993, p. 224, de Goeje, 2211. ı .

1235 Tabar¯ 1993, ı

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but also, and perhaps more signiﬁcantly, to disentangle the sequence in which Yazdgird III’s rule was eventually accepted by the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ To a ıg. begin with the latter ﬁrst. The Pahlav did not wholeheartedly accept Yazdgird III’s kingship. As Tyler– Smith observed, only seventeen mints are known “to have minted in the name of Yazdgird III, a small number for a Sasanian king reigning 20 years.”1238 While the characteristics of this coinage present various problems limiting somewhat our interpretation of them, they do provide us with crucial information pertaining to Yazdgird III’s rule. As Tyler–Smith remarks, if “one wishes to use the coins to help elucidate the literary sources and vice versa, the ﬁrst essential step is to decide whether all coins struck in Yazdgird III’s name, but without an Arabic inscription, were minted in towns he controlled at the material time.”1239 Signiﬁcantly for our purposes, and as far as the number of mints are concerned, Tyler–Smith notes that of the sixteen mints other than Sakast¯n (S¯ an), one a ıst¯ “would expect his early years to be represented by the most mints, the number diminishing as he was driven east, and by the year 20, a period of only 3 months, very few would be minting in his name.” This, however, did not happen. For, while in year 1 (632–633 CE) only seven mints are recorded and in the middle years anywhere between “none to six in any given year,” for the year 20 (651– 652 CE) there are not only “a comparatively large number of mints, . . . [but also a] large number of specimens/dies.”1240 According to Tyler–Smith, Yazdgird III’s coinage can be divided into “four major groups of closely allied coins with a ﬁfth group of more diverse coins.” The ﬁrst group, dating to the years 1–3 of his reign (632–634), came from eight different mints. What is signiﬁcant for our purposes is that most of the identiﬁable mints are located in the southwest of Iran, in F¯rs or Khuzist¯n, that is to a a say, in P¯rs¯ domains. The principal exception is S¯ an, known for years 1 and a ıg ıst¯ 3. S¯ an, however, as we have noted, while under S¯ren control, closely collabıst¯ u orated with the P¯rs¯ factions.1241 According to Tyler–Smith, the fact that these a ıg early mints “were so restricted is curious, one possible explanation being that Yazdgird III did not in fact fully control the whole of Iran.”1242 In other words, all the coins from the ﬁrst three years of Yazdgird III’s rule are minted in P¯rs¯ a ıg territories: S¯ an, F¯rs, and Khuzist¯n, roughly corresponding to the quarters ıst¯ a a
1238 Tyler-Smith, Susan, ‘Coinage in the Name of Yazdgerd III (AD 632–651) and the Arab Conquest of Iran’, Numismatic Chronicle 160, (2000), pp. 135–170 (Tyler-Smith 2000), p. 138. Emphasis added. The S¯ an mint takes an exceptional place in Yazdgird III’s coinage, as we shall see shortly. ıst¯ Of the remaining sixteen mints, only 194 specimens have thus far been identiﬁed. Tyler-Smith 2000, p. 137. 1239 Tyler-Smith 2000, p. 137. For references to works on the Arab–Sasanian coins, see ibid., nn. 6, 7 and 8. For S¯ an’s drachm coinage during the late Sasanian period, testifying to the predominant ıst¯ independence of this S¯renid territory, also see Sears, Stuart D., ‘The Sasanian Style Drachms of u Sistan’, Yarmouk Numismatics 11, (1999), pp. 18–28 (Sears 1999), here pp. 18–19. 1240 Tyler-Smith 2000, pp. 138–139. All emphasis mine. 1241 See for instance our discussion on page 155ff. 1242 Tyler-Smith 2000, pp. 138–140.

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of the south and west. Signiﬁcantly, the important mint of WYHC of B¯r¯nua dukht’s reign—the most favorable reading of which must be the one proposing Visp-shad-Husrav in Media1243 —appears only in the second group of Yazdgird III’s coins, those for the years 6 and 7 (637–639),1244 and in the ﬁfth category of mints, those belonging to the year 20 (651–652) of Yazdgird III’s reign. What is even more remarkable is that unlike B¯r¯ndukht’s coins, no other coins of ua Yazdgird III have been found belonging to the Pahlav territories, the quarters of the north and the east. The one signiﬁcant conclusion that this numismatic data afford us, therefore, is that while the Pahlav eventually did ﬁght on behalf of Yazdgird III, throughout his rule, they did not mint any coins on his behalf in their territories, except for the rare issues of the WYHC mints.1245 This observation becomes even more signiﬁcant considering the following. The mints of the ﬁrst group, in F¯rs and Khuzist¯n, stop striking coins a a from year 4 onward (636–637). This date tallies quite well with the chronology that we will establish for the conquest of Khuzist¯n in 636–637.1246 In fact, a the great majority of issues belong only to year 1 (632–633) of Yazdgird III’s kingship, while from the year 10 through year 20 (642–652), there is an almost continuous production in the mints of Kirm¯n and, presumably, of S¯ an.1247 a ıst¯ One last remark is crucial in this connection. As Tyler–Smith observes, “no coins appear to have been struck between YE [i.e., Yazdgird Era] 3 (AD 634– 635) and YE 10 (AD 641–642).”1248 The absence of any coins from this period underscores a crucial observation: “a major shock [seems to have affected] . . . the administration of the Sasanian empire in year 3 or 4.” If so, and if “the absence of coins does really indicate the collapse of central administration it would strongly suggest that an early date [i.e., 635–636] for the battle of Q¯disiya a is correct.”1249 The numismatic evidence therefore corroborates the chronology that we have favored in this study: those traditions that put the date of the battle of Q¯disiya between the years 13–15 AH/634–636 CE, that is during the a ﬁrst three years of Yazdgird III’s reign, are the most reliable. Two more remarks are warranted here. Firstly, the absence of any coins from the mint of WYHC, from the year 7 (638–639), soon after this mint had begun to struck coins in the name of Yazdgird III, until the year 20 (651–652), can very well be explained as the consequence of a major thrust of Arab armies into Media proper following the battle of Nih¯vand, the battle of Jal¯l¯ , and the conquest of Rayy, after a ua

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footnote 1163. 2000, p. 140. 1245 Nöldeke already realized this, and referring to Sebeos, argued that the east, as well as Azarb¯ya j¯n, initially refused to accept Yazdgird III’s regency. In spite of this observation, he continued to a maintain that Rustam and Farrukhz¯d, immediately or almost immediately lent their support to a Yazdgird III. Nöldeke 1879, pp. 307–308, n. 5, Nöldeke 1979, p. 594, n. 183. 1246 See §3.4.2. 1247 As we shall discuss below on page 244ff, Yazdgird III probably stayed in Kirm¯n and S¯ an a ıst¯ from 642–648. 1248 Tyler-Smith 2000, p. 140. 1249 Tyler-Smith 2000, pp. 146–147.
1244 Tyler-Smith

1243 See

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which the Arabs had penetrated these Pahlav territories.1250 Furthermore, the provinces of Iraq, Khuzist¯n, and F¯rs had to be subdued before the Arab armies a a could head east, and, while the province of Kirm¯n may have been raided in a 643–645,1251 Kirm¯n was “protected for most of Yazdgerd’s reign by the western a provinces.” Secondly, while “we do not know why the three Kirm¯n mints a were not in use at the beginning of Yazdgerd’s reign . . . [p]resumably the Arab invasions changed circumstances dramatically enough to make it worth while for the three towns [of Kirm¯n] to start minting, though output, . . . appears always a to have been low.” Thanks to Tyler–Smith’s study, we will also be able now to realize Gobl’s hope, expressed decades ago, that an investigation of Yazdgird III’s mints “will one day put us in a position to trace the withdrawal route of the dynasty’s last monarch.”1252 We cannot reconstruct Yazdgird III’s narrative, however, without addressing the controversy surrounding the age that he assumed the throne, for naturally, the younger the age of the king, the less validity to the presumption that he played a consequential role in the exigent course of affairs. Although the reverse does not necessarily follow, that is, even if not a child, Yazdgird III was certainly quite young when he was promoted to the Sasanian throne and was almost thoroughly controlled by the factions supporting him. According to Sa¯ b. Batr¯ and Ibn Qutaybah, Yazdgird III was ﬁfteen years old when he ıd . ıq was placed on the throne,1253 while according to D¯ ınawar¯ he was sixteen.1254 ı, Tabar¯ noted, however, that Yazdgird III (632–651) lived for a total of twentyı . eight years.1255 If this latter tradition is correct, Yazdgird III must in fact have been only eight years old when he assumed kingship. Nöldeke already pointed out that the coinage for the tenth year of Yazdgird III’s rule still portrays the king without a beard.1256 Nöldeke therefore opted for a very young monarch, an eight-year old child. Whatever his age, however, it was not Yazdgird III who steered affairs, but the two most important factions, the Pahlav and the P¯ra s¯ under the respective leadership of Rustam and F¯ uz¯n. What then is our ıg, ır¯ a narrative?

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1250 For these three conquests, see respectively page 241, page 234, and §3.4.4 below. The usage of the WYHC mint in the year 20 remains, however, a mystery. 1251 Tabar¯ The Conquest of Iran, vol. XIV of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1994, translated and ı, ı . . annotated by G. Rex Smith (Tabar¯ 1994), p. 71, de Goeje, 2704. Also see Daryaee, Touraj, Soghoot-i ı . S¯s¯n¯y¯n (The Fall of the Sasanians), Tehran, 1994 (Daryaee 1994), and Daryaee, Touraj, ‘The Effect aa ı a of the Arab Muslim Conquest on the Administrative Division of Sasanian Persis/Fars’, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies 41, (2003), pp. 1–12 (Daryaee 2003). 1252 Göbl 1971, p. 54. Yazdgird III’s ﬂight will be discussed on pages 244ff and 257ff below. 1253 Nöldeke 1879, p. 397, n. 4, Nöldeke 1979, p. 593, n. 182. 1254 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 119, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 130. ı 1255 Nöldeke 1879, p. 399, Nöldeke 1979, p. 551. 1256 Nöldeke 1879, p. 397, n. 4, Nöldeke 1979, p. 593, n. 182; Tabar¯ 1999, p. 409, n. 1014. ı .

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p. 43, de Goeje, 2247. . p. 43, de Goeje, 2248. . 1259 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 43, de Goeje, 2248. ı .
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The people of Saw¯d informed Yazdgird III that the Arabs had encamped at Q¯a a disiya and “in a warlike manner . . . ruined everything between them and the Euphrates.” Encamped in their forts, they warned Yazdgird III that “should help be slow in coming, we shall surrender.” Yazdgird III then sent for Rustam in order to entrust the mission of subduing the Arabs to the son of the Prince of the Medes. At his inauguration, he addressed Rustam: “Today you are the [most prominent] man among the Persians. You see that the people of Persia have not faced a situation like this since the family of Ardash¯ I assumed power.”1257 ır Incidentally, it is signiﬁcant that the situation on the eve of the Arab conquest and at the time of the imminent demise of the Sasanians should be compared to what had transpired at the inception of the Sasanian rise to power. As with the rise of the Sasanians, so too on the eve of their destruction, the cooperation of the two polities, the houses of Ardav¯n and Ardash¯ I, the Pahlav and the a ır P¯rs¯ was required. a ıg, From the onset of events that led to the battle of Q¯disiya, all of our traa ditions depict what seems to have been a major disagreement between Rustam and Yazdgird III. Because, as we have argued above, Yazdgird III was too young to steer policy, any decisive action projected onto him in our narratives must be attributed to the faction that originally promoted him: the P¯rs¯ faction. a ıg It is with this caveat in mind, therefore, that we shall proceed. In anticipation of the battle, Yazdgird III and Rustam engaged in a discussion. Tabar¯ highı . lights this in the form of a parable that betrays the nature of the disagreement. When Yazdgird III put Rustam in command of the forces, he presumably also asked his commander to describe to him “the Arabs and their exploits since they have camped at Q¯disiyyah and . . . what the Persians have suffered at a their hands.” Rustam replied that he believed the Arabs to be “a pack of wolves, falling upon unsuspecting shepherds and annihilating them.”1258 Signiﬁcantly, however, Yazdgird III objected: “It is not like that . . . I put the question to you in the expectation that you would describe them clearly and that then I would be able to reinforce you so that you might act according to the [real situation]. But you did not say the right thing.”1259 The nature of the disagreement is not yet disclosed in Sayf’s narrative, but from what follows, it is amply clear that at least some form of discord had come to exist between a king who owed his very crown to the agreement of the major factions and a dynastic commander who was in charge of one of the most powerful armies of the realm. Yazdgird III then proceeded to give his own assessment of the situation. He compared the Arabs to an eagle who “looked upon a mountain where birds take shelter at night and stay in their nests at the foot of it.” In the morning the birds recognized that the eagle is preying upon them. Whenever “a bird

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pp. 43–44, de Goeje, 2248. . p. 44, de Goeje, 2248. Emphasis added. . 1262 Tabar¯ 1992, pp. 44, 52, de Goeje, 2248, 2257. Bal am¯ also highlights this. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 296. ı ı ı . The theme of Rustam’s initial disagreement with Yazdgird III is also reiterated in Ya q¯bi 1969, u vol. 2, pp. 160–162, Ya q¯bi 1983, p. 27. u 1263 Tabar¯ 1992, pp. 44–45, de Goeje, 2249. ı .
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became separated from the rest, the eagle snatched him. When the birds saw him [doing this], they did not take off out of fear . . . If they had taken off all at once, they would have repelled him. The worst thing that could happen to them would be that all would escape save one. But if each group acted in turn and took off separately, they all perished. This was the similarity between them and the Persians. Act according to this.”1260 What Yazdgird III was describing for Rustam in this parable was in fact the plight of the Persian armies: division and lack of collaboration among the factions. Clearly, Yazdgird III was urging Rustam into collective action. Rustam, however, was in favor of a different course of action. “O king, let me [act in my own way]. The Arabs still dread the Persians as long as you do not arouse them against me. It is to be hoped that my good fortune will last and that God will save us the trouble.”1261 Sayf then provides a crucial piece of information. Rustam allegedly believed that the king was inciting the Arabs against him. Clearly, this could not be the real reason for his fear. Instead, he must have been afraid of the harm that the P¯rs¯ faction might place in his way a ıg through their actions. Tabar¯ subsequent account makes it clear that there was ı’s . a substantial dispute between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ over the best strategy a ıg for engaging the Arabs encamped at Q¯disiya. a Rustam favored patience and protracted warfare: We should “employ the right ruse,” he insisted. “In war, patience is superior to haste, and the order of the day is now patience. To ﬁght one army after another is better than a single [and total] defeat and is also harder on our enemy.” Yazdgird III, however, was obdurate.1262 What is being exchanged here is of course not a correspondence between a puppet child king and his powerful commander, but a dialogue between the Parthians (fahlawaj) and the P¯rs¯ (ahl-i F¯rs). Rustam pushed for a ıg a isolated warfare, for biding their time to ascertain the true nature of the Arabs’ intentions. But the situation had become desperate for the people of Saw¯d. a Yazdgird III, that is, the P¯rs¯ lost patience and pushed Rustam to engage the a ıg, enemy. Rustam, however, refused to succumb to pressure, suggesting to send the Armenian J¯l¯ us or another commander instead. Once these had “made a ın¯ them [i.e., the Arabs] weak and tired,” Rustam argued, he could then proceed himself.1263 No agreement, however, was reached, and Rustam was forced to prepare for battle. Just prior to the battle, Rustam became again heavy-hearted, presumably on account of a dream. Now, it is true that apocalyptic dreams, like that of Rustam, are a later concoction, inserted in Ferdows¯ opus. As such they constitute ı’s nothing but a literary topos. For our purposes, however, they do contain signiﬁcant information. Once again Rustam asked Yazdgird III (read, the P¯rs¯ a ıg)

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for permission to send J¯l¯ us ﬁrst. “The ability of J¯ln¯s is similar to mine, a ın¯ a u though they [i.e., the Arabs] dread my name more than his. [If J¯l¯ us fails,] I a ın¯ shall send someone like him, and we shall ward these people off for some time. The People of Persia still look up to me. As long as I am not defeated, they will act eagerly. I am also at this time dreaded by the Arabs; they dread to move forward as long as I do not confront them. But once I do confront them, they will, at last, take heart, and the people of Persia will, in the end be defeated.”1264 Arab trade interests What has never been underlined apropos the battle of Q¯disiya is that the Para thian general Rustam not only argued for procrastination and isolated warfare, being intent on deploying other commanders into action, but that he maintained this position while corresponding and negotiating with the Arabs. In the many pages of Tabar¯ that follow this is made clear. In the months that ultiı . mately lead to the battle, Rustam sent a message to Zuhrah b. Hawiyah,1265 with . the intention of making peace. Rustam “wanted to make peace with Muslims and give Zuhrah a stipend on condition that they should depart.”1266 Rustam and Zuhrah then engaged in correspondence. Besides the heavy dose of rhetoric that infuses the narrative, signiﬁcant information is interpolated into the text. Rustam reminded Zuhrah of the history of Persian behavior toward the Arabs, of the protection that they had given the latter, of how they gave them access to pasture land, and provided them with supplies, and ﬁnally of how they allowed the Arabs to trade in any part of the land. Zuhrah, acknowledging the veracity of Rustam’s contentions, retorted that after the appearance of the Prophet and his religion of the truth, the Arabs were no longer seeking worldly gains. As we shall shortly see, this denunciation ought to be considered Muslim rhetoric, interpolated in the account by later traditionalists. Rustam now asked Zuhrah about their new religion. Zuhrah then enumerated the essential pillars of his newly found religion.1267 Rustam then responded: “How excellent is this! . . . [And if ] I agree to this matter and respond to you, together with my people, what will you do? Will you return [to your country]?” In Zuhrah’s ﬁnal response, however, we are provided with a fascinating piece of information: “By God, if the Persians were to agree to all of these declarations, the Muslims would indeed never draw near . . . [to their] land except for [purposes] of trade or some

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pp. 45–46, de Goeje, 2250. of the commanders of Sa d b. Ab¯ Waqq¯s’s army, who in the pre-Islamic period allegedly ı a. was made a tribal chieftain by the king of Hajar (in Bahrayn) and sent to the Prophet. Tabar¯ 1992, ı . p. 17, and n. 65, de Goeje, 2224. 1266 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 63, de Goeje, 2267. ı . 1267 There “is no god except All¯h and . . . Muhammad is His messenger.” “Excellent,” Rustam a . responded, and “what else?” “To extricate people from servitude to [other] people and to make them servants of God,” Zuhrah replied. “Good,” Rustam retorted, “and what else?” “Men are sons of Adam and Eve, brothers born of the same father and mother,” Zuhrah continued. Tabar¯ 1992, ı . p. 64, de Goeje, 2268.
1265 One

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necessity.”1268 The Arab intent therefore was not conquest for the sake of assuming power, but trade. The pre-occupation of the Arab conquerors with trade is also highlighted in a narrative of Bal¯dhur¯ where Abb¯s b. Abdalmuttalib a ı, a .. warned Umar that if the latter established a d¯w¯n (army registry), the Arabs ı a would “be content with the d¯w¯n [i.e., army stipend] and stop trading.”1269 ı a Returning to our account, after some further discussions, Rustam went away, summoned the Persians, and communicated the Arabs’ message to them. Here, we are ﬁnally appraised of the true identity of the party against whom Rustam maintained his position: once Rustam communicated the Arabs’ message to the Persians, “they went into a rage and scornfully rejected [Zuhrah’s proposals].” Rustam then cursed the Persians.1270 A second tradition, also reported by Sayf, ¯ but through a different chain, has a certain Rib¯ b. Amir as a messenger to ı Rustam. This narrative insists that it was Rustam who wished to engage in a dialogue with the Arabs. As in the previous narrative, again the classic three choices—tribute, conversion, or war—were offered. Rustam demanded time for consultation, a “delay [of] this matter until both parties consider it[s]” implications. Rib¯ offered one or two days. Rustam, however, asked for a longer delay: ı “until we could exchange letters with our men of judgment and with the leaders of our people.”1271 Tabar¯ accounts make it amply clear that negotiations were contingent on ı’s . the collective agreement of the factions who had by now implicitly agreed to Rustam’s command.1272 The collectivity, however, did not agree with Rustam’s course of action. In the second narrative, after hearing Rib¯ offer of the classic ı’s three, Rustam went “into private consultation with the Persian chieftains,” and argued for the lucidity and honorable nature of their offer. Tabar¯ sources for ı’s . this narrative even imply that Rustam was prepared to convert. The Persian
p. 64, de Goeje, 2269. Emphasis mine. . Umar replied, “there is no option but this. The booty of the Muslims has become substantial indeed.” Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 211. A tradition contained in D¯ a ı ınawar¯ also highlights this crucial ı aspect of the agenda of the Arab conquerors. For according to D¯ ınawar¯ when Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ ı, a a ı and other grandees of Iran were defeated (see page 218) and the control of various regions of Saw¯d a became feasible for the Arabs, the population of H¯ informed Muthann¯ that in their vicinity a . ıra there was a village (qariy¯) with a grand baz¯r in it. “Once every month, people from F¯rs and Aha a a v¯z and various other cities of Iran came there in order to trade in goods.” The wealth attained by a the Arabs after the conquest of Anb¯r is then highlighted by D¯ a ınawar¯ Concerning the conquest ı. of Ubullah a similar observation is made. After the battle of Ubullah (see page 190), Utbah b. Ghazw¯n wrote to Umar: “Thank God that we have conquered Ubullah [Basrah] for this is the a . port city of the ships that come hither from Um¯n, Bahrayn, F¯rs and Hind o Ch¯ a a ın.” D¯ ınawar¯ ı 1960, p. 117, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 127. Note, once more, the anachronism of the mention of Umar, ı presumably as caliph. 1270 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 65, de Goeje, 2269. ı . 1271 Tabar¯ 1992, pp. 68–69, de Goeje, 2272–2273. Emphasis added. ı . 1272 Noth studied the theme of negotiation in the fut¯h literature, and remarked on the many u. topoi that can be found in them. Noth, Albrecht, ‘Isfah¯n-Nih¯wand. Eine quellenkritische Studie a . a zur frühislamischen Historiographie’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 118, (1968), pp. 274–296 (Noth 1968), p. 284. The information provided here about Iranian factionalism, however, should not be considered a topos.
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chiefs warned Rustam: “May God save you from inclining toward . . . abandoning your religion to this dog.”1273 This rhetorical exchange we can conﬁdently disregard, for an agreement to conversion would have been all but impossible, given the context, for the son of the Prince of the Medes. The round of negotiations between Rustam and other factions “continued until Rustam and his companions enraged each other.”1274 Rustam then asked for another messenger, and Mugh¯ b. Shu bah was sent.1275 Here, ﬁnally, Rustam’s negotiations with ırah the Arabs reached a dead-end. Rustam declared to Mugh¯ ırah: “We are ﬁrmly established in the land, victorious over our enemies, and noble among nations. None of the kings has our power, honor, dominion.”1276 Mugh¯ ırah interjected: “if you need our protection, then be our slave, and pay the poll tax out of hand while being humiliated; otherwise it is the sword.” At this Rustam “ﬂew into a rage, and swore by the sun: ‘Dawn will not break upon you tomorrow before I kill you all’.” Much has been said of the paramount role of Rustam in what is portrayed as one of the grand ﬁnales of Sasanian history, the battle of Q¯disiya. It is to this a foremost general of the Sasanian realm that the defense of Sasanian rule in Iran was entrusted, allegedly by a young puppet king, who himself owed his throne to the scheming of the factions to begin with. It is probably no exaggeration to argue that the death of no other ﬁgure in the long course of Sasanian history has acquired such poignant symbolism. Rustam’s death at the battle of Q¯disiya a signals the end of Sasanian history. The Sh¯hn¯ma, together with the Iranian a a national historical memory, mourns the defeat and murder of this heroic ﬁgure. An apocryphal letter at the end of Ferdows¯ opus even prognosticates the end ı’s of Iranian national sovereignty through the mouth of Rustam, here depicted as having the Mithraic epithets of Justice and Mihr (sit¯rih shomar b¯d b¯ d¯d o a u a a mihr), before his fateful confrontation with the Arabs.1277 With all the fanfare around the heroic posture and tragic death of Rustam, however, little attention has been paid to the fact that, in defending the Sasanians at this important juncture of Iranian history, Rustam, like his brother, Farrukhz¯d and their father, Farrukh Hormozd, was not merely pitching his a last efforts on behalf of the Sasanians—whose legitimacy his ancestral family, the Ispahbudh¯n, had questioned again and again in late Sasanian period, after a
p. 68–69, de Goeje, 2272. . p. 70, de Goeje, 2274. Emphasis mine. . 1275 The continuation of this narrative is reported on the authority of Sayf with only one other transmitter listed after him. In this version, Mugh¯ ırah does not reiterate the classic three terms of surrender. In fact, it is only Rustam who speaks here. 1276 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 73, de Goeje, 2277. ı . 1277 In a letter to his brother Farrukhz¯d, he predicted this end resorting to astrological signs. a Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2965, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 314: ı ı
1274 Tabar¯ 1992, ı
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all—but, more importantly, was defending the rights of his family and their ﬁefdoms in the east and west of the Sasanian territory. Even less is known about the likelihood that the family was probably the most signiﬁcant player in accommodating the conquering army and betraying the Sasanians. According to the Sh¯hn¯ma, in the process of preparing an army to face a a the Arabs, Rustam wrote a letter to his brother, Farrukhz¯d, instructing him a to gather the army of Iran and Z¯bulist¯n, as well as anyone coming to him in a a refuge (z¯nh¯r kh¯h), and to go to Azarb¯yj¯n. Rustam encouraged Farrukhz¯d ı a a a a a as well as all those who were from their agnatic group (d¯dih-i m¯), young or u a old,1278 to pray for what was about to transpire, and he reminded them all that Yazdgird III was the only legacy left from the Sasanians. The continuation of the letter as it appears in the Sh¯hn¯ma corroborates a a Sayf’s account that the Arabs’ aim in invading Iran was gaining direct access to trade entrepôts. Rustam informed Farrukhz¯d that the Arabs had assured a him that the aim of their aggression was not the destruction of the monarchy and the assumption of power, but rather trade. They promised that they would leave the Iranians in control over the regions stretching from Q¯disiya to R¯da u b¯r. Now, while many rivers, villages, and districts in Iran are called R¯db¯r, a u a the context as well as topographical logic makes it amply clear that this R¯db¯r u a is without doubt the Persian nomenclature for the Oxus.1279 In other words, the Arabs pledged to go beyond the Oxus (vaz¯n s¯) to the cities where there a u is trade.1280 The Arabs’ sole purpose, in other words, was trade and nothing else. They even agreed to pay heavy tariffs and taxation and to respect the Sasanian king and the “crowns of the warriors”, and even to provide hostages as insurance against their good conduct. Rustam, however, warned his brother: all this seemed to be their rhetoric and not their intent.1281
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that is to say, “. . . has passed to the bazar [i.e., the traders].” de Goeje, 1049. For some reason, Nöldeke, too, has rendered this phrase as “dass die Herrlichkeit der Könige an den Pöbel gekommen ist.” Nöldeke 1879, p. 368. 1281 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2966: ı
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1279 Dihkhuda, Lughat N¯ma, Tehran University Publications, 1998, edited by Muhammad Mo‘in a and Ja‘far Shahidi (Dihkhuda 1998), pp. 12331–12333. 1280 It is extremely important to note that Tabar¯ also highlights the role of trade. de Goeje, 1049; ı . Nöldeke 1979, p. 529. This, however, is differently rendered both in Nöldeke’s and in the English translation of Tabar¯ In the English version, in the course of a prognostication that Khusrow II ı. . uttered when the famous list of grievances is given to him, the king informed the messenger that all “this happening indicates a bad omen, that the glory of the monarchs has passed into the hands of the common masses, that we have been deprived of royal power, and that it will not remain long in the hands of our successors before it passes to persons who are not of royal stock (min ahl almamlakah).” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 386. The actual phrase for the “glory of the monarchs has passed into ı . the hands of the common masses” in Arabic, however, reads:

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It is important to underline the tremendous value of this piece of information provided by Ferdows¯ No other source, not even Sayf, gives this unique ı. exchange of Rustam with the Arabs. To be sure, a substantial part of Tabar¯ ı’s . account details the futile negotiations that ultimately led to the battle of Q¯a disiya. And, as we have seen, the theme of trade is hinted at even in these narratives. In keeping with the classical Arab histories’ Islamic rhetoric, however, Tabar¯ accounts, while signiﬁcant, highlight—probably post facto—the ı’s . religious locomotive of the wars of conquest. Nowhere in the many pages of Tabar¯ 1282 is the theme of trade so explicitly and in detail highlighted as in the ı, . poetic couplets of Ferdows¯ ı. Ferdows¯ narrative also underlines the forced ﬁnal agreement of the Pahlav ı’s leader, Rustam, into the strategic policies and concerns of the P¯rs¯ and other a ıg factions. In the letter to his brother Farrukhz¯d, Rustam emphasized that it a was they who had ﬁnally coerced him into engaging the enemy. The forces of Tabarist¯n, under the leadership of M¯ uy, those of Armenia and those under a ır¯ . the control of the S¯renid Kalb¯y (Kalb¯y-i S¯r¯ were all unanimous in one u u u u ı) opinion and one course of action, according to Rustam: “The Arabs are not to be trusted . . . They are not even worthy of consideration. Why have they come to Iran and M¯zandar¯n? If they want access, they have to obtain it through a a war.”1283 Tabar¯ also mentions Rustam’s letter to Farrukhz¯d. Here, we also are told ı a .
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“A messenger came to me from them. Many subjects were discussed in the course of this assembly. [They promised] that from Q¯disiya to R¯db¯r, we shall leave the land to the king. Beyond that a u a [i.e., R¯db¯r, they promised] we will go to the cities where there are trade entrepôts [b¯z¯rg¯h], so u a a a a that we could buy and sell. Besides this [they claimed] we pursue nothing. We shall even accept heavy tariffs. We do not seek the crowns of the elite. We shall also obey the king. If he desires, we shall even furnish him with hostages.” 1282 As Friedmann observes, many themes are highlighted in this section of Tabar¯ narrative. ı’s . These include the contemptuous treatment of the Arabs by the Persians, underlining their poverty and primitive way of life, and deriding their military prowess. These themes might very well reﬂect ¯ ı” “anachronistic echoes of Shu ub¯ controversy. The Persians’ “repeated attempts to dissuade the Muslims from embarking on war by promises of material gain,” however, fall short of the insights given by Ferdows¯ Tabar¯ 1992, p. xv. ı. . ı 1283 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, pp. 314–315, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2966: ı ı

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of the reasons why this other important scion of the Pahlav did not take part in the battle of Q¯disiya. Rustam’s letter was addressed to al-Binduw¯n and a a those who followed him. Al-Binduw¯n of course refers to Farrukhz¯d, who a a was indeed the grandson of Vind¯yih,1284 and is called here the “arrow of the u people of Persia . . . equal to every event, . . . [through him] God will break every powerful army and conquer every impregnable fortress.” Rustam warned his brother to strengthen himself “as if the Arabs have already arrived in your country to ﬁght for your land and for your sons.” He told Farrukhz¯d that he a had “suggested [to the king] that we should ward them off and thus gain time until their auspicious stars become unlucky.” The king, however, had refused this.1285 As Tabar¯ informs us, Farrukhz¯d was the marzb¯n of al-B¯b, on the ı a a a . western coasts of the Caspian Sea,1286 and he continued to be engaged in the Caucasus. As both Tabar¯ and Ferdows¯ narrative underline, therefore, the hero of ı’s ı’s . the battle of Q¯disiya participated in the fateful battle quite reluctantly and in a spite of his preferred stratagems. In fact, according to Tabar¯ between “the deı, . parture of Rustam from al-Mad¯ in, his camping at S¯b¯t, his departure from a a a. there, and his confrontation with Sa d b. Ab¯ Waqq¯s’s army, four months ı a. elapsed. During this time he did not move forward and did not ﬁght.”1287 Rustam is portrayed as “hoping that the Arabs would become disgusted with the place, [and] would become exhausted, and . . . leave.”1288 So long-lasting Rustam’s procrastination is said to have been that the Arabs, realizing his strategy, followed suit and “made up their minds to be patient and to temporize with the Persians indeﬁnitely, in order to throw them off balance,” raiding meanwhile the Saw¯d and plundering “the area around them.”1289 Once the Persians reala ized “that the Arabs were not going to desist,” however, they are said to have commenced their war efforts. In all our narratives the theme of Rustam’s procrastination, his insistence on having an isolated warfare strategy, and his initial refusal to start the war efforts, reﬂects his stance, not vis-à-vis the child king Yazdgird III, but vis-à-vis the other factions, most importantly the P¯rs¯ The correspondence of Rusa ıg. tam with his brother Farrukhz¯d bears witness to this. The exhaustion of the a Sasanian empire in the wake of the thirty-year Byzantine–Sasanian wars, which
1284 See page 187 and the Ispahbudh¯n family tree on page 471. Ibn al-Ath¯ maintains that at the a ır battle of Q¯disiya, when Qa q¯ supposedly slew F¯ uz¯n, H¯rith also killed al-Binduw¯n. This, a a ır¯ a . a a however, is most probably one of those forged traditions attributed to Qa q¯ (see page 233 below). a Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 2, p. 474. ır 1285 Tabar¯ 1992, pp. 46–47, de Goeje, 2251. Emphasis added. ı . 1286 Al-B¯b is the older name for the city of Darband, where successive Sasanian kings, most of all a Khusrow I, are credited with constructing heavy fortiﬁcations against nomadic invasions. Tabar¯ ı . 1992, p. 46, n. 183 and the sources cited therein, de Goeje, 2251. As we shall see on page 279ff, in the future course of the conquest, the Arabs encountered in precisely this same region a Mihr¯nid a by the name of Shahrvar¯z, leading the homeless soldiers under his command against the Khazars. a 1287 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 52, de Goeje, 2257. ı . 1288 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 52, de Goeje, 2257. ı . 1289 Tabar¯ 1992, pp. 52–53, de Goeje, 2257. ı .

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had only recently been brought to an end, perhaps helps explain Rustam’s inclination toward placating the Arab armies. The Arab insistence on trade interests, was probably also responsible for the creation of those narratives that depict Rustam arguing for the lucidity and honorable nature of the Arab stance. All the traditions concerning Rustam’s correspondence with the Arab armies, with his brother Farrukhz¯d, and with other factions bear witness, however, a that the P¯rs¯ were bent on all-out war. Perhaps their promotion of this strata ıg egy was itself predicated upon their knowledge that, indeed, the latter did dread Rustam and his power more than they did that of the P¯rs¯ a ıg. The battle of Q¯disiya a Whatever the case, the list of commanders engaged in the battle of Q¯disiya a reﬂects the ﬁnal participation of all parties who had gathered under the command of Rustam. Sebeos gives us the signiﬁcant information that the “army of ˙ the land of the Medes gathered under the command of their general Rostom,” 1290 numbering 80,000 armed men. Sebeos then provides a breakdown of this number in order to underline the Armenian participation in the battle of Q¯a disiya: from among the forces that had gathered under Rustam, 3,000 fully armed men participated in the battle under the command of the the Armenian general, Mušeł Mamikonean, son of Dawit‘. Prince Grigor, lord of Siwnik‘, came with a force of 1,000.1291 Sayf’s account adds other contingents. Mušeł Mamikonean, possibly the ﬁgure rendered as J¯l¯ us in our Arabic sources,1292 a ın¯ was put in charge of the vanguard. He was ordered not to “rush [into battle]” without Rustam’s permission. One Hurmuz¯n was put in charge of the right a wing of the army.1293 Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯ a Pahlav of the famous Miha a a ı, r¯n family, took charge of the left wing, and ﬁnally F¯ uz¯n, the P¯rs¯ leader, a ır¯ a a ıg commanded the rear guard.1294 Signiﬁcantly, a ﬁgure named Kan¯ra was coma manding the light cavalry.1295 This Kan¯ra, whose son Shahr¯ ar b. Kan¯r¯ also a ıy¯ aa a participated in the battle,1296 was most probably the same Kan¯rang who played a major role in the deposition of Khusrow II,1297 and who went on to play an even more signiﬁcant role in the conquest of Khur¯s¯n.1298 Besides the continaa gents listed, and in true dynastic fashion, moreover, Rustam’s next of kin were also heavily involved in all this. His cousins, Vind¯yih and T¯ uyih, the sons of u ır¯ Vist¯hm,1299 were charged with commanding contingents from the Saw¯d. a a

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1999, p. 98. 1999, p. 98. 1292 See footnote 846. 1293 As we shall see shortly on page 236 below, Hurmuz¯n belonged to the P¯rs¯ faction. a a ıg 1294 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 45, de Goeje, 2249. ı . 1295 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 53, de Goeje, 2258. ı . 1296 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 131, de Goeje, 2346. ı . 1297 See page 154ff. 1298 See §3.4.7. 1299 See the genealogical tree on page 471.

1290 Sebeos

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Perhaps one of the single most important causes of the Sasanian defeat at the battle of Q¯disiya, besides the general exhaustion of the populace and the armies a after years of warfare with Byzantium, the plague that had decimated the realm, and the atmosphere of distrust and factionalism that prevailed among the dynastic factions, was the fact that during the war “[a]ll the leading nobles were killed, ˙ and the general Rostom was also killed.”1300 Having long recognized the debilitating factionalism engulﬁng the Sasanian polity—where armies had gathered around their respective leaders—the Arabs also had realized that the best possible strategy was targeting these very leaders. For without these, the coalition of the Persians would crumble and their armies scatter. This strategy, perhaps, also explains the detailed narratives of the battle of Q¯disiya which dramatize a the capture, defeat, and murder of these leaders. Although these embellished accounts doubtless have little concrete historical value, recalling more the ayy¯m a narratives,1301 and qisas, rather than accurate renditions of events, they portray . . emotionally the various climaxes of the battle. They also elucidate the controversy over whether Umar should participate in the wars of conquest in person, the fear being that in his capacity as the leader of the Arabs, the Iranians would likewise target him.1302 In any event, whether targeting dynastic leaders was the strategic intention of Arabs or not, these were either ﬁrst to fall in the course of the battle or ﬁrst to ﬂee. And a good number of dynastic leaders fell at Q¯disiya: a Mušeł Mamikonean, and two of his nephews, together with Grigor and his sons were among the casualties.1303 Shahr¯ ar b. Kan¯r¯, a member of the important ıy¯ aa Kan¯rang¯ an family, “courageously courted death.”1304 Hurmuz¯n and F¯ ua ıy¯ a ır¯ z¯n were among the ﬁrst to ﬂee the scene.1305 A Sayf tradition maintains that a Qa q¯ killed the P¯rs¯ leader F¯ uz¯n (al-Bayr¯z¯n).1306 This, without a doubt, a a ıg ır¯ a u a is one of those traditions that Sayf is regularly accused of fabricating, this time with justiﬁcation. For as Blankinship maintains, the role of this Qa q¯—an ala leged Companion of the Prophet, and a member of Sayf’s own Usayyid tribe— in the accounts of the fut¯h of Sayf is “one of the most outstanding [examples] u.
1999, p. 98. the reference here is to the battle scenes in this literature, not to their value as genre for historical study. See Mittwoch, E., ‘Ayy¯m al- Arab’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia a Iranica, New York, 2007 (Mittwoch 2007). 1302 “All of them [i.e., the congregation that Umar had called in order to decide the matter] . . . unanimously decided that he should stay, send out a man from the companions of the Prophet, and provide him with troops.” In a different version, Umar is told to “stay and send an army . . . If your army is defeated, it is not the same as if you [yourself] were defeated. If you are killed or defeated at the outset, I am afraid that no Muslim will remain in existence,” one of the Companions is said to have maintained. Friedman notes that the text actually reads: “I am afraid that Muslims will ¯ ı’s not say ‘God is the greatest’ and ‘There is no god except All¯h’.” He further notes that Mas ud¯ a Mur¯j al-Dhahab has the following: “If you are defeated or killed, the Muslims will apostatize and u will never attest that there is no god except All¯h.” Tabar¯ 1992, pp. 4–6, de Goeje, 2213–2214. a ı . 1303 Sebeos 1999, p. 98–99. 1304 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 131, de Goeje, 2346. ı . 1305 F¯ uz¯n is rendered here by Sayf as al-Bayr¯ z¯n. Tabar¯ 1992, p. 123, de Goeje, 2336. ır¯ a u a . ı 1306 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 100, de Goeje, 2309. ı .
1301 Naturally 1300 Sebeos

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of . . . fabrications” of this traditionalist.1307 In fact, Qa q¯ is said to have killed a F¯ uz¯n not once, but twice: at the battle of Q¯disiya as well as at the battle ır¯ a a of Nih¯vand.1308 The dramatic and fabricated accounts of the murder of these a dynastic leaders at the hands of particular Arabs, nonetheless, prove our point. The demise of important P¯rs¯ and Pahlav leaders was of such urgency and a ıg signiﬁcance for the armies of conquest, that traditions portraying their actual demise might have been invented. Luckily for the P¯rs¯ F¯ uz¯n was in fact a ıg, ır¯ a able to ﬂee.1309 The most important Pahlav leader, Rustam, the one whom the Arabs were said to have feared the most, was not so lucky. The downfall of this towering dynast, together with the demise and ﬂight of the other leaders, disheartened the various armies that had gathered around them, leading these, in turn, to ﬂee from the battle scene. As fortune would have it, however, the brother of Rustam, Farrukhz¯d, a absent from the battle due to his engagement in the Caucasus, came to take over the leadership of the Pahlav, playing, as we shall see shortly, a crucial role in the subsequent fateful course of events. Initially, however, the dissolution of the armies that had gathered under the command of Rustam created a substantial power vacuum in Iran. The Arab recognition of this fact is reﬂected in most of our narratives. In Bal am¯ account, after the battle of Q¯disiya, Umar told Sa d ı’s a that if the Persians remained inactive, he should proceed. Sa d realized in turn that after the death of Rustam “no-one ha[d] remained who would be capable of leading the Persians (sipahs¯l¯r¯ r¯ sh¯yad).”1310 In fact, upon the death of aa ı a a Rustam, the two factions seemed for a while not to have been able to agree on a candidate for the supreme command of the army.1311 The battle of Q¯disiya, and the heroic but fatal ﬁght of Rustam at the scene, a have at times been portrayed as a watershed of Iranian defeat at the hands of the Arab armies. This, however, was far from the case, for the battle of Q¯disiya in a fact functioned as a wake-up call for the Iranian armies, creating an awareness that continued factionalism could mean imminent destruction. With the defeat at the battle of Q¯disiya, nonetheless, the way to the capital of the Sasanians a was opened and Ctesiphon was taken by the armies of the Arab conquerors. The battle of Jal¯l¯ ua After the capture of Mad¯ in (Ctesiphon), according to Tabar¯ when “the peoa ı, . ple . . . were about to go their separate ways, they started to incite one another:

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1307 This, therefore, is one of those instances where Sayf either invented, or gloriﬁed the deeds of certain Arabs precisely “in order to glorify further the exploits of the Arab conquerors.” Tabar¯ ı . 1993, p. xxiii. 1308 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 209, de Goeje, 2626. ı . 1309 As we shall see, with Rustam out of the picture, F¯ uz¯n not only participated in the next ır¯ a important battle, the battle of Jal¯l¯ , but later also came to lead the Persian armies in the next most ua important battle that took place after battle of Q¯disiya, the battle of Nih¯vand. See respectively a a pages 234ff and 241ff below. 1310 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 303. ı 1311 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 303. ı

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‘If you disperse now, you will never get together again; this is a spot that sends us in different directions’.”1312 A new army was eventually formed. Gathering in Atrpatakan (Azarb¯yj¯n), they installed Kho˙okhazat (Farrukhz¯d) as their a a r a general.1313 All the major groups that had participated in the battle of Q¯disiya a came together, once again, in the next important battle, the battle of Jal¯l¯ . ua Some of the fut¯h accounts date this important battle to the year 16 AH/637 CE. u. The date of the battle of Jal¯l¯ , however, is likewise debated in the tradition. ua While Tabar¯ lists this war among the wars that took place in the year 16 of ı . hijra (637), he points out that according to a number of traditionalists, including W¯qid¯ the conquest of Jal¯l¯ occurred in the year 19 AH/640 CE.1314 If a ı, ua the battle of Q¯disiya is to be put around 635 CE, however, the earlier date 637 a for Jal¯l¯ seems to be the most accurate.1315 Whatever the exact chronology ua of the battle, the Parthian Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯ was in command.1316 With a a a ı the death of his brother Rustam, the Parthian dynast Farrukhz¯d, whose name a has now been rendered correctly in Tabar¯ as Khurraz¯dh b. Khurrahurmuz, ı a . that is, Farrukhz¯d, son of Farrukh Hormozd, assumed the leadership of the a Pahlav in the battle. The most important section of the Sasanian forces, the cavalry, was under his command.1317 The P¯rs¯ leader F¯ uz¯n also participated in a ıg ır¯ a the battle, as did the Armenian contingents, under their new leader Khusrow Shen¯m (Khusrov-Shum), that is to say, Varaztirots‘ Bagratuni.1318 A host of u factors, including low morale and exhaustion, basically incapacitated the Persians, however. The Persian forces were yet again defeated by the Arab armies under command of H¯shim b. Utbah. Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯ was killed and a a a a ı F¯ uz¯n ﬂed, although Qa q¯ is said to have initially caught up with this comır¯ a a mander whom he previously is said to have slain.1319 The Armenian Khusrow Shen¯m put up a resistance at Hulw¯n for a while, but was likewise forced to u a . ﬂee.1320 As for the battle of Q¯disiya, the logistics of a war where, in spite of a the cooperation of the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ the Iranians were defeated, need to a ıg, be reassessed.1321 Exhaustion after at least four decades of warfare, low morale, and the sense of desperation after the murder of many dynastic leaders, surely were among the primary causes of the Iranian defeat. After the battle of Jal¯l¯ , ua Yazdgird III is said to have ﬁrst gone from Hulw¯n in the direction of Jib¯l,1322 a a .
p. 37, de Goeje, 2457. 1999, p. 99. 1314 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 160–161, de Goeje, 2579. ı . 1315 Under this hypothesis, the conquest of Khuzist¯n, which we will discuss on page 236ff below, a might actually have taken place prior to or at the same time as the battle of Jal¯l¯ . ua 1316 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 37, de Goeje, 2457. ı . 1317 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 41, de Goeje, 2461. ı . 1318 See footnote 943. 1319 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 43, de Goeje, 2463. See page 233. ı . 1320 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 53, de Goeje, 2473. ı . 1321 In fact, to the author’s knowledge, very little attention has been payed to logistic considerations of warfare after the battle of Q¯disiya, and given the limits imposed on this study, we can not take a it much further either. 1322 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 42, de Goeje, 2463. ı .
1313 Sebeos 1312 Tabar¯ 1989a, ı

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and subsequently, and probably incorrectly here, in the direction of Rayy. The itinerary of Yazdgird III’s ﬂight, as we shall see, is very signiﬁcant because it underscores the likelihood that the P¯rs¯ and the Pahlav took turns in protecting, a ıg for a while at least, the Sasanian king Yazdgird III. 3.4.2 The conquest of Khuzist¯n a

In his accounts of the conquest of Iran, the next important battles that Sayf covers after the battle of Jal¯l¯ are the battle of Ahv¯z,1323 the raid into F¯rs,1324 ua a a and the conquest of R¯m Hurmurz, al-S¯s and Tustar.1325 All these he dates to a u 17 AH/638 CE.1326 Hurmuz¯n the Mede a The central commander in defense of Khuzist¯n was Hurmuz¯n, who ﬂed to a a his own territory after the battle of Q¯disiya.1327 From his home territories, a probably in Ahv¯z,1328 this important dynastic leader conducted raids against a the people, that is, the Arabs, of Mays¯n and Dastimays¯n.1329 While we cannot a a identify unfortunately the gentilitial background of Hurmuz¯n, he belonged to a one of the seven noble families.1330 The Khuzistan Chronicle refers to him, signiﬁcantly, as a Mede.1331 That his ﬁefdom covered the districts of Ahv¯z a and Mihrij¯n Qadhaq, however, makes it probable that Hurmuz¯n belonged to a a the P¯rs¯ faction.1332 At any rate, according to Sayf, Hurmuz¯n’s family was a ıg a “higher in rank than anybody in F¯rs.”1333 a The absence of Hurmuz¯n at the battle of Jal¯l¯ , and what must have been a a ua substantial force under his command, is surely signiﬁcant, and indicates several possibilities: a lack of coordinated action, a continuous disagreement among the factions on proper strategy, or the likelihood that Hurmuz¯n’s armies were a elsewhere engaging the Arabs. It is remarkable, therefore, that in the defense
pp. 114–123, de Goeje, 2534–2542. . pp. 126–132, de Goeje, 2545–2551. Hinds, Martin, ‘The First Arab Conquests in . F¯rs’, in Studies in Early Islamic History, pp. 199–232, Princeton, 1996 (Hinds 1996). a 1325 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 132–148, de Goeje, 2551–2567. ı . 1326 Although he acknowledges that some traditions put these wars in 16 AH /637 CE . Tabar¯ 1989a, ı . p. 114, de Goeje, 2534. 1327 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 115, de Goeje, 2534. ı . 1328 Ahv¯z is the name given by the Arab conquerors to Hormozd-Ardash¯ the Sasanian capital of a ır, Khuzist¯n (Susiana). Lockhart, L., ‘al-Ahw¯z’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van a a Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007 (Lockhart 2007). 1329 “These are districts north of al-Basrah and west of al-Ahw¯z.” Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 115, n. 395. a ı . . 1330 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 140, de Goeje, 2560. ı . 1331 Khuzistan 1903, Chronicon, Chronica Minora, Paris, 1903, translated by I. Guidi (Khuzistan 1903), 35:20 / 29:30 apud Robinson 2004, p. 17. 1332 Although we cannot be unequivocal in this claim, for there is also the possibility that he was a Pahlav with long roots in important P¯rs¯ territories. Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 114–115, de Goeje, 2534. a ıg ı . According to D¯ ınawar¯ he was the maternal uncle of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d. D¯ ı, ır¯ a ınawar¯ 1967, p. 141. This ı would make him the brother of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s mother, who, according to Ferdows¯ was the ır¯ a ı, Byzantine emperor’s daughter Maryam, which is quite unlikely. Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2857. ı 1333 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 115, de Goeje, 2534. ı .
1324 Tabar¯ 1989a, ı 1323 Tabar¯ 1989a, ı

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of Ahv¯z, Hurmuz¯n’s forces engaged the Arabs without the participation of a a the Pahlav forces. One might conjecture, based on his absence at the battle of Jal¯l¯ , that the ﬁrst phase of the invasion of Khuzist¯n was simultaneous with, ua a or even prior to, the battle of Jal¯l¯ , sometime during 636–637, thereby also ua explaining in turn the absence of the Pahlav at the defense of Khuzist¯n.1334 a How the ﬁrst, presumably unauthorized, forays into the islands off the coast of southern Iran and subsequently into F¯rs under al- Al¯ b. Hadram¯ and Arfajah a a ı . . b. Harthamah, conventionally dated to the years 13–14 AH/634–635 CE, relate to the Arab expeditions in Jal¯l¯ and Khuzist¯n, might also need reconsideraua a tion.1335 Hurmuz¯n’s isolated warfare against the Arabs forced Utbah b. Ghazw¯n a a to ask Sa d b. Ab¯ Waqq¯s for reinforcements. Hurmuz¯n initially put up a ı a. a stiff resistance against the Arabs. After a number of defeats, however, he sued for peace, in exchange for maintaining control of a truncated part of his territory.1336 Meanwhile, the settlements in Basrah were proceeding apace.1337 In the . course of this, a conﬂict over territorial boundaries developed between Hurmuz¯n and the Arabs. Hurmuz¯n, therefore, stopped paying the agreed tribute to a a the Arab conquerors.1338 It is symptomatic of the absence of the Pahlav faction in these conquests that, in anticipation of a second engagement with the Arabs, Hurmuz¯n was forced to ask for the aid of the Kurds, “whereupon his army a grew in strength.”1339 War broke out and Hurmuz¯n was, once again, defeated, a and ﬂed to R¯m Hurmurz.1340 As Ahv¯z had already been overtaken and “had a a become crammed full of Muslims settling in it,” Hurmuz¯n sued for peace, once a again. Umar agreed to this and advised Utbah to follow suit. This time the Muslims asked for control over territories not yet conquered, to wit, R¯m Hura murz, Tustar, Susa, Jundays¯b¯r, Buny¯n and Mihrij¯n Qadhaq.1341 Hurmuz¯n a u a a a was left in charge of collecting the taxation, while the Muslims agreed to defend
also proposes the “terminus ante quem of late August of 636/Rajab of AH 15 for the end of Ash ar¯ campaigns [in Khuzist¯n]. That this dating is at severe variance with the consensus ı’s a of Islamic sources [on the founding of Basrah] . . . [and might] force a redating of the founding . of Basrah.” Robinson 2004, pp. 19–20. Emphasis mine. This of course tallies perfectly with the . chronological scheme we have presented. 1335 The claims that al- Al¯ b. Hadram¯ had to “respond to ridda” in Bahrayn in the years 11–12 a ı . . AH /632–633, and that Arfajah b. Harthamah was to reinforce Utbah b. Ghazw¯n at the battle of a Ubullah, traditionally put in 12 AH/633 CE, but in our new dating scheme in 628 (see page 190), for example, will certainly be affected by this reconsideration. For the chronological scheme of the conquests of Khuzist¯n and F¯rs, see, respectively, Robinson 2004; and Hinds 1996, p. 202. a a 1336 This included “all of al-Ahw¯z and Mihrij¯n Qadhaq with the exception of Nahr T¯ a and a a ır¯ Man¯dhir and that area of S¯q al-Ahw¯z that the Muslims had already conquered.” Tabar¯ 1989a, a u a ı . p. 119, de Goeje, 2538. 1337 The conventional date for the construction of Basrah is 17 AH /638 CE . Donner, Fred M., . ‘Basra’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007a (Donner 2007a). See, . however, also footnote 1334. 1338 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 120–121, de Goeje, 2540–2541. ı . 1339 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 121, de Goeje, 2540. ı . 1340 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 123, de Goeje, 2542. ı . 1341 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 124, de Goeje, 2543. ı .
1334 Robinson

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him “in case the Kurds of F¯rs were to make raids on him.”1342 The ambivalent a part played by the Kurds in Hurmuz¯n’s affairs is made clear here. Meanwhile, a al- Al¯ b. Hadram¯ conducted an unauthorized raid from Bahrayn into F¯rs. a ı a . . The resistance of the Persian Shahrak1343 in the battle of T¯w¯s came to noth.a u ing and the Persians were yet again defeated.1344 While there is a hint in our accounts that, at one point at least, part of the Pahlav joined forces with the P¯rs¯ 1345 yet again apparent is the lack of milia ıg, tary coordination between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ The P¯rs¯ were forced to a ıg. a ıg coordinate their efforts among themselves. For, in the course of these engagements, we are informed that the people of F¯rs and those of Ahv¯z entered into a a correspondence. Yazdgird III presumably encouraged these alliances through his correspondence from Marv.1346 Hurmuz¯n, therefore, once again, prepared a to engage the Arabs.1347 In Tustar, Hurmuz¯n put up a stiff resistance.1348 Yet a again, however, he was forced, and this time for what was to be the last, to sue for peace with the Muslims.1349 Captured, with all his royal paraphernalia and the crown of his kingdom on his head, the Muslims ﬁnally took this important P¯rs¯ leader to the Muslim caliph Umar in Basrah.1350 A long anecdotal a ıg . narrative highlights Hurmuz¯n’s ruse in saving his life when confronted with a the prospects of being executed by Umar.1351 Once he realized that “he had to choose between death and Islam,” however, the P¯rs¯ leader converted.1352 a ıg With the ultimate defeat of the great dynastic ﬁgure of Hurmuz¯n, part of the a power of the P¯rs¯ was also lost. a ıg S¯y¯h’s conversion ı a While southwestern Iran was engulfed in turmoil, and while the conquest of Susa (S¯s) was taking place, as the tradition has it in 17 AH/638 CE, but in our u revised scheme more likely around 637, Yazdgird III, from Isfah¯n on his way . a
p. 124, de Goeje, 2543. is, without a doubt, the Arabicized version of the Sasanian administrative title shahr¯g, ı or possibly shahrab (see glossary). 1344 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 128–130, de Goeje, 2547–2549. ı . 1345 Further research is required to determine in which phase of the conquest of Khuzist¯n the a forces of F¯rs, Ahv¯z, and Jib¯l could have joined Hurmuz¯n, if indeed they did, as maintained by a a a a Sayf. Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 134, de Goeje, 2553; Robinson 2004. ı . 1346 The whereabouts of Yazdgird III through all of this will occupy us shortly; see pages 244ff and 257ff. It is, however, quite unlikely that he had at this time already reached Marv; see our discussion on page 257 below. 1347 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 133, de Goeje, 2552. ı . 1348 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 134–135, de Goeje, 2553–2554. ı . 1349 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 136, de Goeje, 2556. ı . 1350 While it is possible that depictions of the wealth of Iranians as opposed to that of the Arabs are topoi, as Noth observes, it is unwarranted to dismiss these wholesale. For in the general scheme of things, access to wealth was in fact an important motivation for conquest. Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 137, de ı . Goeje, 2557. There is no doubt that as a dynastic leader, a Mede, Hurmuz¯n’s grandeur and wealth a must have appeared astounding to his conquerors. 1351 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 138–139, de Goeje, 2558–2559. ı . 1352 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 140, de Goeje, 2560. ı .
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to Istakhr, sent a certain S¯ ah,1353 along with three hundred men, including ıy¯ .. seventy Persian aristocrats, against the Arabs. The numerical strength of what was meant to be a relief or possibly a reconnaissance force is worth notice. And here the tradition must be accepted for, if anything, our sources are prone to signiﬁcant numerical exaggeration, as Juynboll argues, perhaps at times by a coefﬁcient of a hundred.1354 Much has been made of the story of the conversion of S¯ ah and the total of three hundred men who followed suit and submitted ıy¯ to the Arabs.1355 In the narrative of their defection, however, a number of important points have rarely been highlighted. We must brieﬂy occupy ourselves with these points, for they are relevant to our concerns. To begin with, none of the Sasanian kings after Khusrow II ever elicited a strong sense of loyalty from the cavalry (as¯wira) in charge of their protection, a because of the political turmoil in the land. We must also keep in mind that we are not dealing here with a vast army but a mere ﬁgure of three hundred. These characterizations, however, do not even begin to describe the nature of S¯ ah and his followers’ defection. The prelude to their defection is noteworıy¯ thy. Before going over to the Arabs, S¯ ah reminded his comrades that these ıy¯ “invaders . . . [have brought] misery and suffering . . . [to] our kingdom . . . [that their] animals [have] shat all over the courtyards of Istakhr.” Most impor.. tantly, however, S¯ ah reminded his comrades that the Arabs “have subjugated ıy¯ our territory.”1356 S¯ ah and his collaborators, in other words, had become ıy¯ homeless, and hence the agreement into which they were forced to enter. The conditions that S¯ ah and his men set for the Arabs before their defection and ıy¯ supposed conversion are also signiﬁcant. According to Tabar¯ they agreed to become Muslims with the understanding ı, . that they would ﬁght the Persians, but not the Arabs, that they would settle wherever they pleased, and that they would be given maximum stipends. The Arabs agreed to these conditions. So S¯ ah and his cohorts converted. But in the ıy¯ siege of Tustar under Ash ar¯ they exhibited “no application or military efforts.” ı, When admonished and asked for an explanation, the leader of this group of as¯wira retorted: “[w]e are not as attached to your religion as you are . . . we a lack the enthusiasm that you have and, living among you, we have no wives to protect, while you have not assigned the most generous stipend to us [i.e., as we stipulated]. And whereas we have weapons and animals, you face the enemy not even wearing helmets!”1357 Having been informed of S¯ ah’s sentiments, Umar ıy¯

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1353 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 142–144, de Goeje, 2562–2564. For Yazdgird III’s whereabouts, see page 244 ı . below. 1354 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. xiii–xv. Also see Kennedy, Hugh, The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and ı . Society in the Early Islamic State, London, 2001 (Kennedy 2001), pp. 1–18. 1355 Crone is one of the few scholars who actually argues against mass conversion of Iranian elite and their clientage. “Had the Iranian aristocracy converted in large numbers, the Marwanid evolution would certainly have taken a very different course. But the nature of the Arab conquest was such that aristocratic renegades were few and far between.” Crone 1980, p. 50. 1356 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 143, de Goeje, 2562. ı . 1357 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 143–144, de Goeje, 2563. ı .

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then ordered that “the highest possible stipends [be allocated to them] according to their military record, in fact the largest amount [paid to] any Arab tribesman [was] paid [to them:] . . . one hundred of the as¯wira were to receive stipends of a two thousand [dirhams], while six of them were even given two thousand ﬁve hundred.”1358 It is rather certain that S¯ ah and his comrades were originally ıy¯ ﬁghting alongside the P¯rs¯ faction.1359 Crone notes that while the “sources are a ıg unanimous that the [as¯wira] converted in joining the Arabs, when they appear a in the second civil war almost ﬁfty years later, their leader is called M¯h Afr¯ a ıdhan [a Persian name indicating he had not yet converted] . . . while another member of their ranks, Yaz¯ b. S¯ ah al-Usw¯r¯ clearly represents the ﬁrst ıd ıy¯ aı generation of Muslims.”1360 It is therefore certain that the conversion stories regarding the as¯wira and other Iranian elite during the conquest period are a topoic narration devices inserted post facto into the accounts.1361 3.4.3 The conquest of Media

Once the conquest of southwestern Iran was over, news reached Umar that the Persians were assembling at Nih¯vand. Ahnaf advised Umar that as long as a . “the king of the Persians is still alive among them, . . . they will not seize to contend with us for the control of the region.”1362 Umar was also informed “that the people of Mihrij¯n Qadhaq, [i.e., the home region of Hurmuz¯n] and a a those of the districts of al-Ahw¯z gravitated toward the point of view and the a erstwhile ambitions of al-Hurmuz¯n.” According to Sayf, these were the reaa sons that “prompted Umar to give the Muslims permission to venture out into Persian territory,”1363 but Hurmuz¯n’s defeat must also have encouraged them.1364 a Whatever the cause, having conquered most of Iraq, the capital of the Sasanians and, ﬁnally, southwestern Iran, and having recognized that the only integrative force, however nominal, among the Persians was a Sasanian monarch on the throne, the Arabs set out on the trail of the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III. If the ultimate goal of the Arabs was to reach the source of trade beyond the Oxus in order to do away with their hitherto middleman position in the east–west trade, there was certainly good logic in this decision.

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p. 143, de Goeje, 2563. to A tham al-K¯f¯ and the Khuzistan Chronicle, the as¯wira were actually aiding uı a Hurmuz¯n at Tustar. Robinson 2004, p. 27. a 1360 Crone 1980, n. 362. 1361 As Robinson has put it in a slightly different manner, for “the early Muslim traditionalists it was probably not so much conversion that was at issue as the stipends that they were awarded.” Robinson 2004. 1362 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 141, de Goeje, 2561. ı . 1363 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 141, de Goeje, 2561. Emphasis added. ı . 1364 According to Robinson, “al-Hurmuz¯n, sent by Yazdgird III, played a crucial role in Sasanian a defense.” Robinson 2004, p. 21.
1359 According

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The battle of Nih¯vand a While signiﬁcant, the defeat of Hurmuz¯n did not bring about the total cola lapse of the P¯rs¯ or the Pahlav faction. The next major encounter with the a ıg Arabs under the command of Muqarrin took place in the battle of Nih¯vand, a which according to Tabar¯ was in 21 AH/641–642 CE. One of the most imporı . tant features of the decisive battle of Nih¯vand was, without a doubt, the fact a that, although located in Media, in Parthian territory, the P¯rs¯ and not the a ıg, Pahlav, were leading the battle. For it was F¯ uz¯n, our famous P¯rs¯ dynast, ır¯ a a ıg who commanded the army that ultimately regrouped in Nih¯vand in Median a territory.1365 Bal am¯ implies the absence of the Pahlav leaders when he mainı tains that at the battle of Nih¯vand, except for F¯ uz¯n, no one ﬁt for assuming a ır¯ a the command had remained.1366 Why the P¯rs¯ rather than the Pahlav led this a ıg battle we shall shortly ascertain. For now it should be remarked that the absence of the leader of the Pahlav, Farrukhz¯d, from this important battle, with a the substantial forces under his command, can be explained by determining the whereabouts at that point in time of the Sasanian king Yazdgird III.1367 The head and the wings of the bird The interesting dialogue between Umar and Hurmuz¯n regarding the choice a of the battleﬁeld, instead of being dismissed as a mere topos, should be read for the role of the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ factional armies in their defense of a ıg the realm.1368 In the course of this dialogue, Umar asked Hurmuz¯n’s advice a as to where he should strike ﬁrst. Hurmuz¯n answered with another quesa tion: “Where is the head?” Umar replied that the head was Nih¯vand under a the “command of Bund¯r, [who] had the royal brigade of as¯wira and troops a a from Isbah¯n [along] with him.” De Goeje proposed that Bund¯r was a cora a . a ıg ruption of Mard¯nsh¯h Dh¯ ’l-H¯jibayn,1369 that is to say, the P¯rs¯ leader a a u .a Mard¯nsh¯h Dhu ’l-H¯jib (Bahman J¯dh¯yih).1370 Nih¯vand was chosen as a a a u a .a head, not only on account of its important strategic and political location in Median territory, but also because the Iranian army had now gathered there. In this tradition provided by Tabar¯ the transmitter is said to have forgotten ı . the regional identiﬁcations of the wings, but other traditions identify the wings with F¯rs and Azarb¯yj¯n.1371 In an attempt to presumably misdirect Umar, a a a
p. 193, de Goeje, 2608. p. 317, n. 4. 1367 See page 244ff below. 1368 It should be remarked at the outset that Noth’s argument regarding the existence of topoi which appear in the accounts of both the battle of Nih¯vand and the battle of Isfah¯n, conﬁrms our earlier a . a assessment of his analysis. For in fact all of the topoi which he enumerates are Islamic or Arab topoi and do not affect the information that Sayf provides regarding the Iranian side. An exception is this dialogue between Umar and Hurmuz¯n, which appears to contain an echo of Sebeos’ three armies. a Noth 1968; see also footnote 1414. 1369 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 184, n. 629, de Goeje, DCXXII. ı . 1370 See our discussion of these epithets on page 196ff. 1371 Another variant has the Persian king (Kisr¯) as the head, and F¯rs and Byzantium forming its a a wings. Noth 1968, pp. 283–284.
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Hurmuz¯n nevertheless pressed on the caliph to “cut off the wings” of the ema pire. Umar, however, realizing Hurmuz¯n’s duplicity and ill-placed intentions a retorted: “you speak lies . . . I shall go for the head ﬁrst.”1372 The repetition of this theme in the conquest accounts of both Nih¯vand and Isfah¯n might give a . a the appearance of a concocted literary device, but should not, however, detract from the germ of the narrative. Otherwise, the same narrative could very well have appeared in the accounts of the battle of Q¯disiya or the battle of Jal¯l¯ , a ua for example. At any rate, Sayf reiterates the regrouping of the Persians after the defeat of Hurmuz¯n and the conquest of Khuzist¯n: “What precipitated the ﬁghta a ing at Nih¯wand was that, after the ﬁghters from al-Basrah had overpowered a . al-Hurmuz¯n and had forestalled the people of F¯rs by preventing them from a a annihilating the army force of al-Al¯ , . . . the people of F¯rs wrote to their a a king . . . [and he rallied] the inhabitants of al-Jib¯l, namely those of al-B¯b, ala a Sind,1373 Khur¯s¯n, and Hulw¯n who were duly roused.”1374 The Armenian aa a . faction was also represented, under their leader Khusrow Shen¯m (Varaztirots‘). u After Hurmuz¯n’s defeat, in other words, Yazdgird III is said to have appealed a to the forces of the Pahlav. Continued discord emerges clearly in this narrative: “They agreed that they would show up at Nih¯wand and sort out their matters a there.”1375 Here then we are given the aforementioned south–north, P¯rs¯ a ıg– Pahlav territorial division.1376 Thus, “one after the other, there arrived those living in the territory between Khur¯s¯n and Hulw¯n, those living in the teraa a . ritory between al-B¯b and Hulw¯n, and those living in the territory between a a . Sijist¯n and Hulw¯n . . . The cavalry of F¯rs and of the Fahl¯j [sic, i.e., fahlawaj] a a a u . . . . joined forces . . . [and they] assembled under the command of al-Fayr¯z¯n, u a and they all set out to him, one after the other.”1377 Whereas sometime during the rule of B¯r¯ndukht the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ had joined forces only to diua a ıg vide again, in the battle of Nih¯vand during the reign of Yazdgird III, they yet a again joined forces. This is the second time, therefore, that Sayf has informed us of the over-arching Pahlav and P¯rs¯ factions coming under the command a ıg of F¯ uz¯n.1378 And it is curious that while Yazdgird III sent a general appeal to ır¯ a all forces, Farrukhz¯d’s were nevertheless missing from action in Nih¯vand. a a In spite of their coalition, the Persians were once again defeated at the battle of Nih¯vand. The P¯rs¯ leader F¯ uz¯n was ﬁnally, and this time for a a ıg ır¯ a real, killed.1379 After F¯ uz¯n’s death, Bahman J¯dh¯yih was appointed in ır¯ a a u

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p. 184–185, de Goeje, 2601. these might have been I have no idea. 1374 Tabar¯ 1989a, pp. 189–190, de Goeje, 2605. ı . 1375 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 190, de Goeje, 2605. Emphasis mine. ı . 1376 See our discussion on page 214ff. 1377 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 193, de Goeje, 2608. In our revised chronology, there will be a ﬁve year ı . hiatus between the battle of Jal¯l¯ (637–638) and the regrouping of the forces at Nih¯vand, if the ua a conventional dating of the latter in 641–642 is assumed. 1378 See our discussion on page 214ff. 1379 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 209, de Goeje, 2626. ı .
1373 Who

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his stead.1380 Presumably, however, his appointment came too late to effect a change in the direction of the war, and part of the Persian army ﬂed to Hamad¯n.1381 Under the command of the Armenian Khusrow Shen¯m (Varaztirots‘), a u the Persians “sought immunity from the Muslims . . . [and accepted to] surrender Hamad¯n and Dastab¯ [to the conquerors].”1382 With F¯ uz¯n dead and Fara a ır¯ a rukhz¯d nowhere to be found, the Bagratuni dynast Varaztirots‘ sued for peace. a The whereabouts of the treasury maintained by Varaztirots‘ was allegedly disclosed by a treacherous herbad, a tradition that might indicate signs of religious animosity between the two.1383 D¯n¯r’s expropriation of K¯rinid domains ı a a In the wake of the defeat at the battle of Nih¯vand and Varaztirots‘’s peace a agreement with the Arabs, through which he relinquished the important Pahlav stronghold Hamad¯n to the conquering forces, the people in charge of the tera ritories that eventually came to be called the M¯h of Basrah and the M¯h of a a . K¯fa1384 “followed Khusrawshun¯m’s [i.e., Khusrow Shen¯m, Varaztirots‘] exu u u ample and corresponded with Hudhayfah.” But in the course of these negotia. tions an unprecedented transformation took place. The K¯rins, whose original a homeland seems to have been the region of Nih¯vand,1385 were disenfranchised a from the lands that had still remained in their possession. As our account puts it, “the people in charge of these territories . . . were deceived by one of them, a man called D¯ ar.”1386 This D¯ ar, we are told, “was a king [in his own right] ın¯ ın¯ but of lesser nobility than the others, all of them being more exalted than he, with Q¯r¯ the noblest of them all.”1387 Signiﬁcantly, Q¯r¯ (K¯rin) was from a ın a ın a “the ruling family in those days.”1388 The end result of D¯ ar’s ruse,1389 advisın¯ ing the other noble families that it would not be prudent to approach the Arabs with their full regalia,1390 was that the “Muslims concluded a treaty with him while disregarding his [fellow aristocrats, the outcome of this being that] . . .
1380 Bal am¯ 1959, ı

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p. 210, de Goeje, 2626. . p. 210, de Goeje, 2626. . 1383 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 210, de Goeje, 2627. Varaztirots‘ (Khusrow Shen¯ m) is here identiﬁed as ı u . Nakh¯ an, the Arabicized form of Armenian naxarar; see also footnote 943. ırj¯ 1384 See footnote 146. 1385 That is, prior to their relocation to Khur¯s¯n during Khusrow I’s reign; see page 114. The aa nature and extent of the K¯rins’ identiﬁcation with Nih¯vand must be subjected to future research, a a for in the course of this study we have not been able to establish the original homeland of the K¯rins a with any certainty. 1386 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 211, de Goeje, 2628. ı . 1387 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 211, de Goeje, 2628. ı . 1388 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 215, de Goeje, 2631. ı . 1389 The theme of traitor in the accounts of conquest is also considered a topos by Noth. As we shall see, this observation cannot be applied as a general rule; see footnote 1447. 1390 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 211, de Goeje, 2628. ı .
1382 Tabar¯ 1989a, ı

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the latter saw no other way than to yield to D¯ ar and to accept his authority.” ın¯ That is why, Tabar¯ explains, Nih¯vand “came to be called M¯h [i.e., Media] D¯ ı a a ı. n¯r.”1391 We have not been able to ascertain the true identity of D¯ ar,1392 who a ın¯ allegedly duped the rest of the nobility, including the K¯rins. Clearly, in the a wake of the defeat at the battle of Nih¯vand, and analogous to the events that a will transpire in Rayy,1393 the Arabs were able to take advantage of factionalism in the Iranian ranks. As we already pointed out, perhaps the most curious feature of the battle of Nih¯vand was the conspicuous absence of Farrukhz¯d, the leader of the Pahlav, a a and his army. We recall that after his correspondence with Rustam prior to the battle of Q¯disiya, the next and last thing that we hear about Farrukhz¯d a a is that he participated in the battle of Jal¯l¯ . As we have seen, the presence of ua almost all of the important dynastic leaders has been meticulously followed in our sources. But, from the subsequent engagements between the Arabs and the Persians after the battle of Jal¯l¯ , Farrukhz¯d was patently missing. What hapua a pened then to this towering scion of the family of the Prince of the Medes? The answers to this crucial question must engage us in a discussion of the whereabouts of the Sasanian king, Yazdgird III, after the battle of Q¯disiya. So, yet a again, we brieﬂy pause our war narratives to discuss the king’s ﬂight southwards. Yazdgird III’s ﬂight southwards The itinerary of the ﬂight of Yazdgird III after the battle of Q¯disiya has been a the source of confusion.1394 Sebeos’ account aids us in reconstructing it. According to Sebeos, after the defeat of the Persians at the battle of Q¯disiya a and following the death of Rustam, when the “survivors of the Persian army reached Atrpatakan [Azarb¯yj¯n], they gathered together in one place and ina a stalled Kho˙okhazat, [Farrukhz¯d] as their general.”1395 With the two imporr a tant scions of the Ispahbudh¯n house of the Prince of the Medes, Farrukh a Hormozd and Rustam, dead, Farrukhz¯d was appointed as the leader of the a Pahlav faction. Instead of participating in the subsequent crucial battles, however, Farrukhz¯d took up an even more momentous responsibility: the safety a of the last Sasanian king Yazdgird III. According to Sebeos, from Azarb¯yj¯n, a a Farrukhz¯d “hastened to Ctesiphon, took all the treasures of the kingdom, a the inhabitants of the cities, and their king, and made haste to bring them to

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1392 Incidentally, 1393 See 1394 Ya q¯ b¯ u ı

.

p. 212, de Goeje, 2628. For the use of M¯h, see footnote 146. a D¯ ar cannot have been the original Persian name of this dynast. ın¯

§3.4.4. maintains that Yazdgird III ﬁrst went to Isfah¯n before going to some other region . a where he met the ruler of Tabarist¯n, who informed him of the sturdiness of his cities. Ya q¯bi a u . 1983, p. 38. Bal am¯ mistakenly maintains that Yazdgird III set out from Rayy to Khur¯s¯n. Bal am¯ ı aa ı 1959, p. 325. 1395 Sebeos 1999, p. 99. Thomson notes that in Marquart 1931, the above passage is rendered as “when the survivors of the Persian troops from Atrpatakan gathered.” Thomson argues, however, that “the text is clear as it stands.” Ibid., p. 99, n. 611.

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1391 Tabar¯ 1989a, ı

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Atrpatakan.”1396 The ﬂight of Farrukhz¯d and the king, together with the treaa sures of the kingdom, toward Azarb¯yj¯n, however, was intercepted by the a a Arabs, called here Ismaelites by Sebeos. As Sebeos puts it, “after they had set out and had gone some distance, unexpectedly the Ismaelite army attacked them.”1397 The interception, or imminent interception of the Arab army, led Farrukhz¯d to “abandon . . . the treasures and the inhabitants of the city.”1398 a This unexpected arrival of the Arab army most probably refers to the battle of Jal¯l¯ (around 637). Farrukhz¯d’s concern with the safety of Yazdgird III ua a and the Sasanian treasury probably also explains the fact that the Pahlav leader was able to take charge only of the cavalry, and not of the entire army, in this battle. For in the battle of Jal¯l¯ , we recall, Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯ was in ua a a a ı command.1399 Upon this terrifying turn of events, Yazdgird III “ﬂed and took refuge with the army of the south.” The Arabs reportedly took all the treasures,1400 returned to Ctesiphon, and “ravaged the whole land.”1401 Sometime after the sacking of Ctesiphon (around 635), therefore, Yazdgird III set out toward the south. Considering his absence, it is quite probable that Farrukhz¯d continued a to follow the king, at least for a while, even when the latter took refuge with the army of the south (N¯ uz). The ﬂight of the king to the south is corroboımr¯ rated by our Arabic sources. According to Tabar¯ sometime after the battle of ı, . Jal¯l¯ , Yazdgird III, who was then in Hulw¯n, was advised to go to Istakhr, “for ua a . .. that is the center of the kingdom.”1402 While he was further advised to “send . . . [his] soldiers away” and keep his treasures, however, it is almost certain that the latter could not have been accomplished without the former. The treasury of the king must have required a strong force to safeguard, for it was to cause tremendous contention between the king and his protector Farrukhz¯d in the a near future.1403 It was at this point, when Yazdgird III began his arduous ﬂight, from Hulw¯n via Isfah¯n to Istakhr, that he sent S¯ ah to lead the way. S¯ ah a ıy¯ ıy¯ . . a .. arrived at Istakhr at the same time that Ab¯ M¯s¯ al- Ash ar¯ was laying siege u ua ı .. to S¯s (Susa). After he was sent to Susa, S¯ ah then mutinied.1404 At this point u ıy¯ Hurmuz¯n was in Tustar, and the people of S¯s, having heard about the news of a u Jal¯l¯ and the ﬂight of their king to Istakhr, sued for peace with the Arabs.1405 ua .. Yazdgird III’s ﬂight took him ﬁrst to the protective custody of the P¯rs¯ a ıg

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1999, p. 99. 1999, p. 99. 1398 Sebeos 1999, p. 99. 1399 See page 234ff. 1400 That this could not actually have been the entire royal treasury will become clear later in the narrative; see for instance, page 258. 1401 Sebeos 1999, p. 99. 1402 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 142, de Goeje, 2561. ı . 1403 See page 258. 1404 See page 238ff. Note that we have dated his capture and conversion also at around 637. 1405 Tabar¯ 1989a, p. 142, de Goeje, 2562. ı .
1397 Sebeos

1396 Sebeos

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in the south. Hamza Isfah¯n¯ corroborates that Farrukhz¯d1406 accompanied a . . a ı Yazdgird III in his ﬂight south, then southeast and ﬁnally northeast, “to Isfah¯n . a . . . Kirm¯n and ﬁnally to Marv.”1407 Other sources conﬁrm this as well. An a authority in Tabar¯ has it, for example, that Yazdgird III went ﬁrst to F¯rs, and ı a . thence to Kirm¯n and S¯ an, where he remained for ﬁve years. From S¯ an, a ıst¯ ıst¯ Yazdgird III then went to Khur¯s¯n, and ﬁnally to Marv. It seems likely that on aa his way to the northeast, Yazdgird III was also confronted with the unsettled situation in Tabarist¯n.1408 Those traditions that claim that Yazdgird III went a . from Rayy to Khur¯s¯n, therefore, might have a germ of truth in them.1409 aa At any rate, Tabar¯ informs us that Farrukhz¯d was Yazdgird III’s escort all ı a . the way to Khur¯s¯n.1410 That the Arab armies intended to follow Yazdgird aa III’s trail is corroborated by the identical itinerary that they took northeast. Leading the way for the pursuing the Arabs, Yazdgird III went from Kirm¯n, a via Tabasayn and Q¯hist¯n, to Khur¯s¯n.1411 u a aa . Numismatic evidence conﬁrms that Yazdgird III stayed for a somewhat extended period of time in the vicinity of Kirm¯n and S¯ an before heading northa ıst¯ east, sometime in the late 640s.1412 In Kirm¯n and S¯ an, he was for a long while a ıst¯ protected by the regions to the west. The authority in Tabar¯ who holds that ı . Yazdgird III stayed for about ﬁve years in that region, provides the most trustworthy tradition. If our chronology for the battle of Nih¯vand in or about 642 a is correct, and if we accept the fact that Yazdgird III remained in the Kirm¯n and a S¯ an regions for about ﬁve years, we can conjecture that Yazdgird III stayed in ıst¯ said regions from about 642 until around 648, after which he went northeast. It is not clear whether Farrukhz¯d remained with Yazdgird III throughout his a stay in the southeast. What is clear is that after a long interlude, it was in the company of Farrukhz¯d and a substantial army under his command, that the a last Sasanian king arrived in Khur¯s¯n in search of protection. In Khur¯s¯n the aa aa king’s stay was very eventful, and we shall follow this saga in its appropriate place.1413 For now, we proceed with the events after the battle of Nih¯vand. a

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name is correctly rendered here as Khurz¯d b. Khur Hurmuz, the brother of Rustam. a Isfah¯n¯ 1961, p. 55, Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1988, p. 59. . . a ı . . a ı 1408 For the political situation in Tabarist¯n around this time, see Chapter 4, especially page 302ff. a . 1409 See footnotes 1394 and 1528. 1410 Tabar¯ The Crisis of the Early Caliphate, vol. 15 of The History of Tabar¯, NY, 1990, translated ı, ı . . and annotated by R. Stephen Humphreys (Tabar¯ 1990), p. 82, de Goeje, 2876. ı . 1411 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 87, de Goeje, 2881. Hence the tradition in the Ta r¯kh-i Bayhaq that Yazdgird III ı ı . stayed for a while in Bayhaq. See Bayhaq¯ Ibr¯h¯ b. Muhammad, Ta r¯kh-i Bayhaq, Tehran, 1938, ı, a ım ı . edited by Ahmad Bahmanyar (Bayhaq¯ 1938), p. 26; Pourshariati, Parvaneh, ‘Local Historiography ı in Early Medieval Iran and the Ta r¯ ıkh-i Bayhaq’, Journal of Iranian Studies 33, (2000), pp. 133–164 (Pourshariati 2000). 1412 See page 220. 1413 For the continuation of Yazdgird III’s ﬂight to the east, see page 257ff.
1407 Hamza

1406 His

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST The battle of Isfah¯n . a After the battle of Nih¯vand the Persians made a stand at the battle of Isfaa . h¯n (641–642).1414 The commander of the army at the battle of Isfah¯n was a . a a certain Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih,1415 “an important leader at the head of a large a a u force.”1416 His name seems to suggest that this general was a member of Shahrvar¯z’s family, in other words, a Mihr¯n.1417 A second ﬁgure introduced in the a a account of Isfah¯n is a certain al-F¯dh¯sf¯n, who was the ruler of the region. a a u a . F¯dh¯sf¯n, that is, p¯dh¯sp¯n,1418 clearly refers to an administrative title and not a u a a u a to the name of this ﬁgure. In Tabar¯ account, the title of this general who ı’s . commanded a grand army is given as ust¯nd¯r (¯st¯nd¯r or governor).1419 The a a o a a command structure of the Sasanian army in the battle of Isfah¯n, therefore, . a was quite distinct from that in the battle of Nih¯vand, which had been una der the command of F¯ uz¯n, containing not only P¯rs¯ but also Pahlav and ır¯ a a ıg, Armenian contingents.1420 The congregation of the P¯rs¯ in Isfah¯n after the a ıg . a defeat at the battle of Nih¯vand is clear in Sayf’s account. According to Bal am¯ a ı, when the p¯dh¯sp¯n heard about the defeat at Nih¯vand, he came to Isfah¯n, a u a a a . together with Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih, to confront the Arabs. Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯a a u a a u yih, however, was defeated and killed in this battle. Another P¯rs¯ leader who a ıg participated in the battle of Isfah¯n was Mard¯nsh¯h (Bahman J¯dh¯yih?).1421 a a a a u . Mard¯nsh¯h and Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih are said to have alternated command. a a a a u This confusion probably reﬂects isolated khabars concerning different episodes of the war. Whatever the case, it is quite clear that the commanders participating in the battle of Isfah¯n were predominantly of the P¯rs¯ faction, who had a ıg . a to confront the enemy without the participation of the Pahlav. After the defeat and death of Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih, the (unnamed) p¯dh¯sp¯n made peace in lieu a a u a u a of paying the jizya, on the condition that the Arabs let whosoever wanted to §3.4: YAZDGIRD III

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1414 According to Noth, there are grounds to argue that the account of the battle of Isfah¯n repli. a cates some of the motifs of the battle of Nih¯vand. Noth 1968. For instance, we ﬁnd the same a exchange between Umar and Hurmuz¯n about the head and the wings of the bird. Tabar¯ 1994, a ı . p. 10, de Goeje, 2642; for the parable of the bird, see page 241. Interestingly enough, this account does not belong to Sayf. Another common motif between the two accounts is the meeting of Mugh¯ ırah with Dhu ’l-H¯jib. Tabar¯ 1994, p. 11, de Goeje, 2642–2643. As already mentioned, ı .a . since almost all of the topoi investigated by Noth are Islamic and most probably inserted in the traditions of the two battles in later periods, his analysis does not detract from the conclusions that we shall arrive at: The internal Sasanian indicators clearly testify to the retention of two separate episodes of conquest in the historical memory of its respective transmitters. 1415 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 328. ı 1416 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 7, de Goeje, 2638. ı . 1417 Bal am¯ calls him Shahr¯ ar, which could be a scribal error for Shahrvar¯z. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 328, ı ıy¯ a ı n. 3. However, in footnote 1092 we offer an alternative reading, which no longer implies that he had to be a Mihr¯n. a 1418 See footnote 411. 1419 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 7, de Goeje, 2638. ı . 1420 See page 241ff. 1421 See page 196ff.

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leave Isfah¯n free to depart.1422 Abdall¯h b. Abdall¯h b. Itb¯n, who had been a a a . a joined by Ab¯ M¯s¯ Ash ar¯ accepted. Some traditions maintain that many u ua ı, people left the city upon the conclusion of the peace agreements.1423 Others depict this migration as a minority who “opposed their people.”1424 Dhu ’l-H¯jib .a (Mard¯nsh¯h, Bahman J¯dh¯yih) was also killed in this battle. a a a u The battle of W¯j R¯dh a u The sequence of conquests that follows in the accounts of Sayf is: Hamad¯n, a Rayy, Gurg¯n, Tabarist¯n, and ﬁnally Azarb¯yj¯n, all of which he puts in the a . a a a year 18 of hijra (638), while most others put these conquests in the years 22 AH /642 CE, or 23 AH /643 CE . According to Sayf, after the battle of Nih¯a vand, Nu aym b. Muqarrin and Qa q¯ b. Amr set out for Hamad¯n. In charge a a of Hamad¯n was the Armenian Bagratunid dynast Khusrow Shen¯m (Varaztia u rots‘).1425 Signiﬁcantly, we are informed here that Varaztirots‘ had broken the peace treaty that he had previously signed with Hudhayfah, and had gathered an . enormous army around himself.1426 In anticipation of Nu aym’s arrival, Varaztirots‘ requested the aid of the army of Azarb¯yj¯n. Once a substantial enough a a force had gathered around him,1427 he engaged the Arabs in one of the villages of Hamad¯n called W¯j R¯dh.1428 As the accounts of this battle make clear, a a u after the battle of Nih¯vand, the battle of W¯j R¯dh became one of the most a a u important battles in the north. The army of Daylam, under the command of one M¯t¯, came to the aid of the Armenian dynast Varaztirots‘. Signiﬁcantly, a ua member of the family of the Prince of the Medes, Isfand¯ ar, “did the same at ıy¯ the head of the Azerbaijan army.”1429 Most of the commanders participating in the battle of W¯j R¯dh belong a u this time to the Pahlav faction, in collaboration with the Armenian contingent under the command of Varaztirots‘. The dynastic Pahlav leader, Farrukhz¯d, a however, is still nowhere to be found! A new ﬁgure of substantial importance, however, is introduced. Bearing the enigmatic name al-Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farruınab¯ u kh¯n, he arrived “at the head of the Rayy army.” That he too belonged to the a
1422 Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 328–329. In Tabar¯ version, the treaty that the p¯dh¯sp¯n made with the ı ı’s a u a . Arabs is also reproduced, but its contents are of no consequence to our concerns. Tabar¯ 1994, ı . pp. 8–9, de Goeje, 2640–2641. 1423 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 329. ı 1424 Tabar¯ claims these to be thirty in number. Tabar¯ 1994, p. 8, de Goeje, 2640. ı ı . . 1425 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 19, de Goeje, 2648. ı . 1426 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 19, de Goeje, 2649. For the circumstances under which the previous peace ı . treaty was effected, see page 243. 1427 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 331. ı 1428 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 21, de Goeje, 2650. ı . 1429 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 21, de Goeje, 2650. Tabar¯ calls him mistakenly a brother of Rustam, but ı ı . . as will become clear later (see §3.4.8), he was a son of Farrukhz¯d. The editor, referring us to a Zarrinkub 1975, observes that Isfand¯ adh “was the brother of Rustam b. Farrukhz¯d, the Persian ıy¯ a general defeated at Q¯disiya.” Ibid., n. 115. This, needless to reiterate, is yet another example a of the scholarly confusion surrounding the genealogy of the Ispahbudh¯n. We should also recall a that already during the Byzantine wars the army of Azarb¯yj¯n was under the command of the a a Ispahbudh¯n family; see §2.7.5. a

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Pahlav faction will become amply clear once we have revealed his true identity.1430 Considering the number of high-caliber dignitaries present in this battle, it is no wonder that Sayf claims the battle of W¯j R¯dh to be “a great battle a u like Nih¯vand, not at all inferior, . . . [where] great, incalculable numbers were a killed.”1431 The Persians lost, yet again, and the great Bagratunid dynast Khusrow Shen¯m (Varaztirots‘) was killed.1432 It is important to reiterate once again u that the Iranian names contained in the fut¯h were not callously and haphazu. ardly invented by the tradition. For, once identiﬁed, the names of these commanders become an important index for determining the chronology of events. In this case, for example, we can now ascertain that the battle of W¯j R¯dh a u took place prior to the conquest of Azarb¯yj¯n, for it was only during the latter a a episode that the Ispahbudh¯n Isfand¯ ar made peace with the Arabs.1433 a ıy¯ 3.4.4 The conquest of Rayy

After the battle of W¯j R¯dh, when Umar was ﬁnally informed of the Arab a u victory at the battle of W¯j R¯dh and the conquest of Hamad¯n,1434 he was a u a also told that yet again a great army had gathered, this time in Rayy, under the command of the grandson of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 1435 The conquest of Rayy and a u ın. Tabarist¯n and, as we shall see, Khur¯s¯n and Azarb¯yj¯n, connect together in a aa a a . a highly intricate fashion, in such a manner that, once the nuances in the narratives are deciphered and once the nature of the dynastic dynamics operating within these regions are disentangled, they clarify the histories of the k¯st-i ¯u a durb¯dag¯n and k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n in the two centuries following the conquest. a a u aa For as we shall attempt to show in the pages that follow, the conquests of the quarters of the north and east of the Sasanian domains, which formed the hereditary territory of the Parthian dynastic families, actually led to the ﬁnal collapse of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy, to the demise of the house of the S¯s¯n, aa and most importantly, to the continued independence of these regions under the de facto rule of Parthian dynasts and under the nominal suzerainty of the caliphate. In the process, some Parthian dynasts did lose their long-held dominion of these territories, while others continued to rule with little change.1436 S¯y¯vakhsh Mihr¯n ı a a According to Tabar¯ the ruler in Rayy at this juncture was one S¯ avakhsh ı, ıy¯ . b. Mihr¯n b. Sh¯b¯ 1437 Now by way of context we should recall that Rayy a u ın. and its vicinity had for a long time been the stronghold of the Parthian dynastic

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a long tale still needs to be told before on page 264 we can ﬁnally identify this ﬁgure. See also page 250ff. 1431 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 22, de Goeje, 2651. ı . 1432 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 332. ı 1433 See §3.4.8. 1434 Bal am¯ here notes that the news was delayed as the distance was great. Bal am¯ 1959, p. 331. ı ı 1435 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 331. ı 1436 We will elaborate this point further in Chapters 4 and 6. 1437 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 24, de Goeje, 2653. ı .

1430 However,

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family of the Mihr¯ns. The Mihr¯ns, we recall, held the important ofﬁce of a a the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed¯ of the quarter of the north from at least Khusrow I’s rule ea a ı onward.1438 The exception to this rule was the period of the rebellion and independence of Vist¯hm1439 in the quarters of the north and the east, when a the ofﬁce of the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed was most likely meaningless in these regions. The ea a rebellion of the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 1440 had set the precedent, even prior a a u ın to Vist¯hm’s rebellion, for galvanizing these quarters against Hormozd IV and a Khusrow II. There is, therefore, absolutely no reason to question the historicity of the ﬁgure of S¯ avakhsh, the grandson of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ at this period.1441 ıy¯ a u ın, By way of context we should also recall that while these regions had led uprisings against the Sasanians, and while the Parthian dynasts had at times come to collaborate against the latter, there had also long existed a strong antipathy between the Mihr¯ns and the Ispahbudh¯n, an antipathy that had reached its a a apex in the course of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion. During the latter episode, a u ın’s we remember, the Ispahbudh¯n family had ensured the destruction of the Miha r¯nid rebel.1442 In the context of inter-Parthian dynastic struggles, in other a words, the Mihr¯ns and the Ispahbudh¯ns were age-old rivals. a a When S¯ avakhsh heard that Nu aym b. Muqarrin was heading toward Rayy ıy¯ from W¯j R¯dh, he sent a messenger to the ajam (i.e., the Persians) and all a u the armies who were in the vicinity of Rayy and made an appeal to them: “The Arab army has set out toward Rayy, and the Arabs have spread elsewhere. None can stand up to them. And Yazdgird III is far from us.” S¯ avakhsh then ıy¯ proceeded to warn them of their imminent destruction, were they not to take action: “When the Arabs ﬁnally arrive at Rayy, you cannot remain where you are. If you come to my aid, we can put up a ﬁght against them. If you don’t aid me, you will all be destroyed.” All, Bal am¯ maintains, answered S¯ avakhsh’s call for ı ıy¯ aid.1443 According to Tabar¯ S¯ avakhsh had “asked the people of Dunb¯wand, ı, ıy¯ a . Tabarist¯n, Q¯mis, and Jurj¯n for their help.”1444 a u a . Z¯nab¯ Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n ı ı u a The Mihr¯nid S¯ avakhsh, however, faced a serious rival. Bal am¯ discloses the a ıy¯ ı identity of this rival in a semi-folkloric account. In Rayy, there was in S¯ aıy¯ vakhsh’s army one of the “elite of the ajam, from among the dihq¯ns of Rayy,” a whose name was R¯m¯ The father of this R¯m¯ Bal am¯ further maintains, a ı. a ı, ı “was the grandee of Ray. And between him and S¯ avakhsh there had [always] ıy¯ been a struggle over the territories of Rayy.” Now Bal am¯ editor justiﬁably ı’s notes that in other recensions, the name of this ﬁgure is given either as Vab¯ ı,
§2.5.4, especially page 103ff, as well as the table on page 470. §2.7.1. 1440 See §2.6.3. 1441 For the likelihood of his identiﬁcation with S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ see footnote 1144. ıy¯ a ı, 1442 See page 128ff. 1443 Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 331–332. ı 1444 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 25, de Goeje, 2654. ı .
1439 See 1438 See

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the son of Farrukh¯n, or alternatively, as Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n.1445 Who a ınab¯ u a was this ﬁgure R¯m¯ Vab¯ the son of Farrukh¯n, or Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n, a ı, ı a ınab¯ u a and what was his role in the conquest of Rayy? According to Tabar¯ when ı, . S¯ avakhsh made an appeal for aid, in deﬁance of him, al-Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farruıy¯ ınab¯ u kh¯n, who “had seen what the Muslims were like, [comparing their attitude] with a the envy of S¯y¯vakhsh and his family,” came and met Nu aym in a place near ı a Qazv¯ called Qih¯ and made peace with him.1446 Z¯ ı proposed to Nu aym ın a ınab¯ that the “enemy is numerous, whereas you are at the head of a small army. Send some cavalry with me. I shall take them into their town, [Rayy,] by a way that [even] (the locals) do not know.”1447 According to Tabar¯ Z¯ ı then colı, ınab¯ . laborated with the Arabs and they engaged the army that had gathered around S¯ avakhsh. With the aid of Z¯ ı, Nu aym’s army was victorious. After their ıy¯ ınab¯ victory, those who were among the original inhabitants of Rayy took refuge in Q¯mis and D¯mgh¯n. The Arab army then entered Rayy, looted the city and u a a gained substantial booty. According to Sayf, “God gave the Muslims at al-Rayy about the same amount of spoils as those at Mad¯ in.”1448 The wealth of the a capital of the Mihr¯ns is thus compared to the wealth of the capital of the Sasaa nians themselves. Once again, there is no reason to consider the extent of this wealth as a topos created by the tradition. In the account that follows we are apprised of one of the most important transformations that took place in the political structure of this important region of the Sasanian domains in the wake of the Arab conquest. The Arabs, we are informed, then gave Z¯ ı and his followers promise of safety (zinh¯r), ınab¯ a made Z¯ ı the marzb¯n of Rayy, and made peace with him.1449 As a reınab¯ a sult, Z¯ ı gained a substantial treasury as well. With the conquest of Rayy, ınab¯ therefore, the Arab conquerors toppled one of the most powerful and ancient Parthian dynastic families of the region, the Mihr¯ns, from its seat of power a in Rayy. In this, however, they had the aid of one very able collaborator, our enigmatic ﬁgure Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n, who thenceforth assumed power, ınab¯ u a and as we shall see, not only in Rayy but also elsewhere.1450 According to Sayf, thereafter the “honor of al-Rayy continued to be greatest among the family of al-Z¯ ı, including Shahr¯m and Farrukh¯n. The family of Bahr¯m [Ch¯b¯n] fell ınab¯ a a a u ı from grace, and Nu aym destroyed their town, which was called al- At¯ ıqah (the Old Town) . . . Al-Z¯ ı [,however,] gave orders for the building of the new town ınab¯

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p. 332, and n. 2. 1994, p. 24, de Goeje, 2654. Tabar¯ maintains that Shahr¯m and Farrukh¯n were the ı a a . . ınab¯ sons of Z¯ ı. This is a new piece of information, with which we should reckon in our analysis of Z¯ ı’s identity on page 264ff. Tabar¯ 1994, p. 25, de Goeje, 2655. Justi repeats this information. ınab¯ ı . Justi 1895, p. 276. 1447 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 25, de Goeje, 2654. Here then is an example of the ruse of a traitor, which ı . although couched in a folkloric tale, is thoroughly historical, as we shall presently argue. 1448 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 25, de Goeje, 2654. ı . 1449 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 332; Tabar¯ 1994, p. 25, de Goeje, 2654–2655. ı ı . 1450 In Bal am¯ account we also get the curious passage that Z¯ ı’s ınab¯ and his family had “the same ı religion as the ajam (va ¯sh¯n ham bar d¯n-i ajam m¯b¯dand).” Bal am¯ 1959, p. 333. ı a ı ı u ı
1446 Tabar¯ ı

1445 Bal am¯ 1959, ı

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of al-Rayy.”1451 Nu aym’s peace agreement was addressed to al-Z¯nab¯ b. Q¯lah ı ı u and others with him.1452 Z¯ ı’s nisba of Q¯lah, or K¯l¯, is important for our ınab¯ u ua future purposes and we shall deal with it later.1453 This then became a truly substantive transformation, somewhat analogous to the change in power in Khur¯a s¯n effected by Khusrow I’s appointment of the K¯rins as the new sp¯hbeds of a a a the region.1454 In keeping with the tradition of political rule in this important domain of the northern quarter, the region of Rayy, the Mihr¯ns were ofﬁcially a toppled and another family, the family of Z¯ ı, was installed in their stead. ınab¯ What this might have meant in terms of the actual domains that had once been the property of the Mihr¯ns and how their tremendous social power was afa fected by this transformation, considering the nature of agnatic land-ownership and religious practices, must be left open for future research.1455 What is clear, however, is that the de facto and age-old tradition of Mihr¯nid rule in Rayy came a to an end in the wake of the conquests with, signiﬁcantly, the aid of a faction that was likely an age-old rival, the family of Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n. This transforu a mation in Rayy was altogether not dissimilar to what had transpired after the battle of Nih¯vand, when D¯ ar, who was of low nobility, allegedly duped the a ın¯ Arabs into accepting him as the ruler of the region, at the expense of the K¯rins’ a status.1456 For the transfer of power from one important dynastic family to another, as we witness here in Rayy, or the loss of status of an important dynastic family, as in Nih¯vand, was of such a momentous nature that the details were a highlighted in the traditions. By the same token we ought to have been given more information about the party to whom the power of the Mihr¯ns in Rayy a was transferred. This, however, was not the case and the ﬁgure of Z¯ ı, in ınab¯ spite of his importance, remains quite obscure.1457 Once the Mihr¯ns were defeated by the Arabs with Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n’s cola u a laboration, the petty rulers of the regions who had come to S¯ avakhsh’s aid ıy¯ also made peace with the Arabs. So, we are told, that after the conquest of
p. 25, de Goeje, 2655. . p. 26, de Goeje, 2655. . 1453 See pages 293 and 308. 1454 See §2.5.6. 1455 As with all other signiﬁcant upheavals in the histories of the dynastic families, however, it is reasonable to assume that these transformations could not have totally destroyed the actual landownership, wealth, and power of the Mihr¯n family. Pending further research on precisely how land a ownership from those who controlled these lands during the Sasanian period transferred to those who came to control the land under Muslim rule, this assertion remains a conjecture. The histories of Tabarist¯n and Qum suggest two ways in which such a transfer might have been effected. In the a . case of Tabarist¯n, by the late eight century when the caliphate ﬁnally conquered parts of the land, a . at least for some period, people began to convert in order to maintain their wealth and power. In the case of Qum, where Arab settlement actually took place, there was a gradual forced take-over of the land by the Arabs. For Qum, see Pourshariati, Parvaneh, ‘Local Histories of Khur¯s¯n and aa the Pattern of Arab Settlement’, Studia Iranica 27, (1998), pp. 41–81 (Pourshariati 1998). We hope to deal with the case of Tabarist¯n in our forthcoming work. a . 1456 See page 243. 1457 Once more we must entreat upon the reader’s patience until we can establish the identity of this ﬁgure and his family on page 264 below.
1452 Tabar¯ 1994, ı 1451 Tabar¯ 1994, ı

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Rayy, Mard¯nsh¯h, the ruler of Dunb¯wand (Dam¯vand), Khuw¯r, L¯riz, and a a a a a a Shirriz, whose title was Masmugh¯n,1458 sued for peace with the Arabs, and a . promised to “refrain [from hostile acts against them] . . . [and] restrain the people of . . . [his] territory.” In return for an annual payment, Nu aym promised Mard¯nsh¯h that he “will not be attacked, nor . . . approached save by permisa a sion.”1459 Suwayd b. Muqarrin subsequently conquered Q¯mis, whose inhabiu tants had also come to the aid of the Mihr¯ns of Rayy, without any resistance a on the part of its population.1460 It is signiﬁcant for our purposes to take note, moreover, that while the conquest of Rayy is narrated under the year 22 of hijra (643 CE), the actual account of the conquest gives no precise date.1461 3.4.5 The conquest of Gurg¯n and Tabarist¯n a a .

The subsequent conquests of Gurg¯n and Tabarist¯n are extremely important, a a . for it is through these, as well as through the conquest of Khur¯s¯n, that the aa contours of the political conditions in northern and northeastern Iran in the next two centuries become clear. Moreover, these conquests, together with the conquest of Rayy, with its unprecedented transfer of power from the house of Mihr¯n to that of our enigmatic ﬁgure, Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n,1462 must natua ınab¯ u a rally be considered in the context of the history of Tabarist¯n1463 and Khur¯s¯n a aa . in the late Sasanian period, as well as in the context of the political events taking place once Yazdgird III reached Khur¯s¯n during his ﬂight from the encroaching aa Arab armies.1464 The Turkic leader Sul .¯ After he had conquered Rayy and concluded treaties with the ruler of Dam¯a vand and the people of Q¯mis, Suwayd b. Muqarrin moved east. Encamping u a a u in Bist¯m, he wrote to the “ruler of Jurj¯n [i.e., Gurg¯n], a ﬁgure called R¯z.a b¯n Sul,”1465 who hastened to make peace with him “[with the provision] that a .¯ he [i.e., Sul] should pay tribute and that he would save [Suwayd] the trouble .¯ of making war on Jurj¯n. If [he] were being defeated,” Sul promised Suwayd a .¯ that he “would give him assistance.” Suwayd then went to Gurg¯n, and stayed a there until the taxes had been collected, and until he “had [speciﬁed] the various
1458 Tabar¯ 1994, pp. 26–27, de Goeje, 2656. This Mard¯nsh¯h cannot be the P¯rs¯ leader Mard¯nı a a a ıg a . sh¯h Dhu ’l-H¯jib, as he had died already around 642 at the battle of Isfah¯n, see page 247ff. It is a .a . a more likely that, being called a Masmugh¯n (chief Magian?), he was a K¯rinid; see footnote 1750. a a . 1459 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 27, de Goeje, 2656. ı . 1460 Signiﬁcantly, the treaty with Q¯ mis was made with the people of Q¯ mis. Tabar¯ 1994, pp. 27– u u ı . 28, de Goeje, 2657. 1461 Once we have identiﬁed our mysterious ﬁgure Z¯ ınab¯ we will be able to infer that the conquest ı, of Rayy (and Gurg¯n, see below on page 255) must actually have taken place sometime in 650–652; a see Table 6.2 on page 469. 1462 See §3.4.4, especially page 250ff. 1463 For a detailed account of this, see Chapter 4. 1464 See page 257ff. 1465 Tabar¯ 1994, pp. 28–29, de Goeje, 2658. ı .

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frontier regions of Jurj¯n by name.”1466 Suwayd then “allocated the Turks of a Dihist¯n [to look after] them, removing the tribute from those who remained a to defend them and taking taxes from the remainder of the people of Jurj¯n.”1467 a Who this Sul was, and what precisely was being negotiated, is clariﬁed by the .¯ terms of the treaty that was subsequently drawn up between the two parties. In the treaty itself Sul is no longer recognized as the ruler of Gurg¯n. Rather the a .¯ treaty is addressed to “R¯zb¯n Sul b. R¯zb¯n and the people of Dihist¯n and u a .¯ u a a all of those of Jurj¯n.” This Sul was one of the Turkic leaders who in the posta .¯ Bagratuni period of Khur¯s¯n had managed to carve for himself a domain, from aa where he imposed his rule on Gurg¯n and adjacent territories, such as Dihisa t¯n. Tangentially, we should mention a signiﬁcant chronological issue before a we proceed. While Sayf’s narrative maintains that the conquest of Gurg¯n took a place in 18 AH/639 CE,1468 Tabar¯ also informs us that, according to al-Mad¯ in¯ ı a ı, . the conquest of Gurg¯n took place in 30 AH/650–651 CE, more than a decade a later. There is absolutely no indication, however, that the Arabs could have reached Gurg¯n at this early stage in 639 CE. To this important chronological a dispute we will get shortly. The treaty between Suwayd and Sul stipulated that the tribute imposed on .¯ Sul and his followers would not be in the form of monetary arrangements but .¯ “in the form of assistance.”1469 These treaty terms were analogous, as we shall see, to those the Arabs made with the Mihr¯nid Shahrvar¯z in the Caucasus, a a where the tribute due from the conquered population was calculated in terms of the military assistance rendered.1470 In Bal am¯ account, however, the terms ı’s of the agreement between Sul and Suwayd were even more advantageous for .¯ Sul: he entered into an agreement with Suwayd on the condition that the Arabs .¯ agreed to pay him a portion of the khar¯j of Gurg¯n, as well as a portion of a a the dues given by “those who refuse to accept Islam.”1471 Another signiﬁcant chronological indicator is provided by Bal am¯ Sul persuaded Suwayd that this ı: . ¯ arrangement would also beneﬁt the Arabs, for “once the ispahbud¯n [i.e., the a plural of sp¯hbed] of Tabarist¯n realize that he, [i.e., Sul,] has made peace, they a a . .¯ will not engage in war with the Arabs.” If they did nevertheless elect war, Sul .¯ promised that he would come forth with the army of Gurg¯n, and wage war a until Tabarist¯n was likewise conquered.1472 a . The ispahbud Farrukh¯n a

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1466 Tabar¯ 1994, ı 1467 Tabar¯ 1994, ı

p. 29, de Goeje, 2658. . p. 29, de Goeje, 2658. . 1468 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 30, de Goeje, 2659. ı . 1469 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 29, de Goeje, 2658. ı . 1470 See page 279. 1471 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 334. ı 1472 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 334. ı

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Bal am¯ then adds, signiﬁcantly, that when the ispahbudh¯n (pl.), that is to say, ı a the collectivity of the ispahbuds of Tabarist¯n, heard that Sul had made peace a . .¯

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with Suwayd b. Muqarrin, they gathered around their ruler. This ruler’s name was Farrukh¯n, “and he was the ispahbud of all of the ispahbudh¯n. And they a a [i.e., the other ispahbuds] were all under his rule. And the ispahbud was the commander of his army . . . [Farrukh¯n] was [also] called the G¯l of all of G¯l¯n (J¯ a ı ı a ıl-i J¯ an). And when he wrote letters, he would [address himself as the] ‘ispahbud of ıl¯ all Ispahbudh¯n’. And today, [i.e., presumably in Bal am¯ time,] they write the a ı’s [name of the] ispahbudh¯n of Khur¯s¯n in this manner [as well].”1473 Once they a aa realized that Sul had made peace with Suwayd b. Muqarrin, Bal am¯ proceeds, ı .¯ “all of the ispahbudh¯n gathered around Farrukh¯n and asked: ‘what solution do a a you propose for us?’” Farrukh¯n, the G¯ G¯ an,1474 Bal am¯ continues, replied a ıl-i ıl¯ ı to the other ispahbud¯n that peace seems to be the only option (sal¯h ¯n ast kih . ulh a s . . a. a kun¯m). For the affairs of the ajam were in disarray (k¯r-i ajam t¯r o p¯r shud) ı a a a and “the religion of Muhammad was a new religion,” so that it was prudent to . make peace and pay the jizya.1475 Farrukh¯n then wrote to Suwayd and asked a for peace terms, and agreed to pay 500,000 dirhams per year for all of Tabaris. t¯n, and consented that in case the Muslims would engage in war, and asked for a aid from Tabarist¯n, this would be rendered. Suwayd, who was in Gurg¯n, then a a . informed Umar that he had conquered Q¯mis, Gurg¯n, and Tabarist¯n.1476 Sigu a a . niﬁcantly, therefore, Farrukh¯n, too, made peace on behalf of Gurg¯n. What a a of Sul, however? Here comes a further signiﬁcant piece of chronological in.¯ formation. While according to Tabar¯ the conquest of Gurg¯n through Sul ı a . .¯ was accomplished in 18 AH/639 CE by one account,1477 Bal am¯ maintains that ı Suwayd’s peace with Farrukh¯n for Q¯mis, Gurg¯n, and Tabarist¯n took place a u a a . in 22 AH/643 CE. Several chronologies for the conquests involving Gurg¯n therefore are proa vided. In the ﬁrst, the treaty was allegedly put into effect through Sul and deals .¯ only with the conquest of Gurg¯n. One tradition gives this conquest the ima probable date of 18 AH/639 CE—when most of the battles discussed above still had to be fought in regions far to the west of Gurg¯n—while another tradia tion puts that conquest in the year 30 AH/650–651 CE.1478 A second chronology given by Bal am¯ for the year 22 AH/642–643 CE, claims that the peace ı treaty went into effect through Farrukh¯n and G¯ G¯ an, and involved Gura ıl-i ıl¯ g¯n plus all of Tabarist¯n and Q¯mis. There is another tradition which mena a u . tions no names or the extent of the territories involved, and which is dated to 30 AH/650–651 CE. Among the proposed dates, the latter is in all probability the correct one. However, our argument for this depends on our identiﬁcation

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p. 334. reader should be warned that the identiﬁcation of Farrukh¯n with G¯ G¯ an (J¯ J¯ ana ıl-i ıl¯ ıl-i ıl¯ sh¯h) will prove to be unwarranted, as we will argue shortly on page 256 below, and in more detail a in §4.4.1. 1475 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 334. ı 1476 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 335. ı 1477 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 30, de Goeje, 2659. ı . 1478 See next note.
1474 The

1473 Bal am¯ 1959, ı

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page 264ff, as well as page 291ff and §4.4.1 in the next chapter. §4.4.1. 1481 For further background on J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, see §4.3.3 below. ıl-i ıl¯ a 1482 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 30, de Goeje, 2659. As we have seen thus far, and shall continue to see, the ı . practice of seeking the support and aid of one dynastic faction, or a branch of a dynastic faction, against another, was, in fact, one of the crucial ways in which the Arabs were able to effect the conquests and gradually move east. So, the Iranians’ request to be left out these dynastic bargains ﬁts in quite well with the scheme of things. 1483 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 30–31, de Goeje, 2659. ı .
1480 See

1479 See

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of Farrukh¯n, and ultimately of Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n, which we will give a ınab¯ u a below.1479 Now, in Bal am¯ account of the conquest of Gurg¯n and Tabarist¯n—reı’s a a . portedly in 22 AH/642–643 CE, but in our reconstructed chronology actually around 650–6511480 —there occur so many ispahbudh¯n that, on the face of it, it a would appear impossible to disentangle them. What is clear from the account is that the most powerful of the lot, the ispahbud-i ispahbudh¯n, was called Farrua kh¯n, or J¯ J¯ an, and that he held authority over all the ispahbuds. To ﬁgure a ıl-i ıl¯ out Farrukh¯n’s jurisdiction, we must turn to Tabar¯ account of the conquest a ı’s . of Tabarist¯n. According to Tabar¯ the ruler of Tabarist¯n, Farrukh¯n, wrote a ı, a a . . . to Suwayd and sued for peace. The treaty as a whole, however, was addressed to Farrukh¯n, the ruler of Khur¯s¯n, in authority over Tabarist¯n, and to the a aa a . ruler J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, our previous enemy. Farrukh¯n therefore was the ruler of ıl-i ıl¯ a a Khur¯s¯n, but he also had authority over Tabarist¯n. As the syntax of Tabar¯ aa a ı’s . . passage indicates, moreover, and contrary to Bal am¯ narrative, Farrukh¯n and ı’s a J¯ J¯ ansh¯h were not one and the same ﬁgure.1481 ıl-i ıl¯ a The combined powers of Farrukh¯n and J¯ J¯ ansh¯h vis-à-vis the Arabs a ıl-i ıl¯ a was reﬂected in the peace treaty. Farrukh¯n, who was the ﬁrst addressee of a the treaty, promised not to harbor or aid any potential resistance coalition. Whereas Bal am¯ maintains that Farrukh¯n agreed to aid the Arabs in case of ı a military need, moreover, Tabar¯ maintains that one of the conditions that the ı . rulers of Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n, Farrukh¯n and J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, stipulated in aa a a ıl-i ıl¯ a . their peace agreement was that they would not be “obliged to render help or assistance against anyone.”1482 In other words, in exchange for peace, Farrukh¯n a and J¯ J¯ ansh¯h demanded to be left alone. In return, the Arabs requested ıl-i ıl¯ a them to restrain their robbers, and the people on their borders: “You will harbor nobody or nothing we are seeking and you will ensure yourself [against military action against you] by [paying] anyone governing your border territory 500,000 dirhams.” In conclusion, Farrukh¯n, the ispahbud-i ispahbudh¯n, a a the ruler of Khur¯s¯n, in authority over Tabarist¯n, under whose rule all the aa a . other sp¯hbeds had now gathered, and J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, were required to ensure a ıl-i ıl¯ a the calm around their borders by buying the cooperation of potentially insurgent governors of these territories. The Arabs agreed that they would not have a right to attack Farrukh¯n or invade the domains under his control, “or even a to approach [him] without [his] permission.”1483 In order to further clarify the nature of the events that took place in Rayy, Tabarist¯n, and Khur¯s¯n, we a aa .

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must turn our attention once more to the fateful saga of the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III, as he turned to Khur¯s¯n. For, it was only after the destruction aa of the leadership of the P¯rs¯ faction, with F¯ uz¯n dead and Hurmuz¯n in a ıg ır¯ a a captivity, that Yazdgird III came to lose the most important source of support left to him, that of the Pahlav faction under Farrukhz¯d’s leadership.1484 a Yazdgird III’s ﬂight eastwards We recall that after the battle of Q¯disiya and the battle of Jal¯l¯ , Yazdgird III’s a ua ﬂight ﬁrst carried him south, then southeast, where he probably stayed in S¯ ıst¯n, possibly for ﬁve years.1485 We can now follow his trail as he turned ﬁnally a to Khur¯s¯n around 650. Some of our sources maintain that during his ﬂight, aa Yazdgird III either went to the proximity of Tabarist¯n, or was at least invited a . to take refuge there. In any case, perhaps on his way to Khur¯s¯n, Yazdgird aa III learned about the events in Tabarist¯n and Gurg¯n1486 before he ﬁnally proa a . ceeded to Khur¯s¯n, to Marv. We recall that most of our sources emphasize aa that the protection of the Sasanian king during his ﬂight was undertaken by the most important scion of the Ispahbudh¯n family, Farrukhz¯d, the brother of a a Rustam, and the son of the Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd. Whereas none of the anecdotal narratives that describe Yazdgird III’s fate in Khur¯s¯n and his presumed murder at the hands of a miller, rings of historical aa veracity, we do have substantive information that helps us clarify the course of events. The initial conquest of Khuzist¯n and F¯rs by Ash ar¯ we recall, a a ı, took place sometime around 636–637 CE, according to our dating scheme,1487 although some traditions maintain that this was shortly before Ab¯ Bakr died, u in 634 CE. The “real conquest of F¯rs and the remainder of the Sasanian empire a ¯ to the east,” however, was undertaken by Abdall¯h b. Amir, the governor of a 1488 Basrah, under Uthm¯n (23–35 AH/644–656 CE), a when the latter sent Ahnaf . . at the vanguard of an army to conquer Khur¯s¯n from Tabasayn. According aa . to Morony, it was after the second conquest of F¯rs that Yazdgird III moved to a Kirm¯n and thence, just ahead of the Arab forces, to S¯ an and Khur¯s¯n.1489 a ıst¯ aa Yazdgird III, therefore, arrived in Khur¯s¯n sometime in 650–651 CE. If Yazdaa gird III was eight years old when he ascended the throne in 632, moreover, by the time of his arrival in Khur¯s¯n in 650–651, he was about twenty-six years aa old. From here on, the sources that depict the youthful Sasanian king as stubborn and thick-headed may carry some truth.

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1484 The conquest of Khur¯s¯n will be discussed in §3.4.7 below, and the Arab peace treaty with aa Farrukh¯n and J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, in §4.4.1. a ıl-i ıl¯ a 1485 See page 244ff. A tentative chronology for his whereabouts is given in Table 6.2 on page 469. 1486 See §3.4.5. 1487 See §3.4.2 and Table 6.2. 1488 Morony 1991, p. 207. 1489 Morony 1991, p. 207. However, as we established on page 244ff, his stay in Kirm¯n and S¯ an a ıst¯ was more likely during the years 642–648.

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§3.4: YAZDGIRD III C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

According to Tabar¯ “historians are in disagreement” over Yazdgird III’s ı, . journey to Khur¯s¯n, and “how the whole affair happened.”1490 According to aa one tradition, once he arrived in Khur¯s¯n, Yazdgird III “intended to join the aa ruler of the Turks, and the Persians asked him what he intended to do.”1491 Yazdgird III replied that “he wanted to join the ruler of the Turks and remain with him or [go] to China.” Who were these Persians quarreling with the king? In this version of Tabar¯ narrative the name of the ﬁgure(s) (or parties) is ı’s . not disclosed. What is disclosed, however, is that a violent disagreement took place between the king and a faction whom Tabar¯ source calls the Khur¯ı’s a . s¯n¯s. When Yazdgird III articulated his intentions, according to Tabar¯ “they a ı ı, . told him to tread warily, for this was a bad idea, going to a people in their own country, while abandoning his own land and people.”1492 They argued that he must go back to Iran and make peace with the Arabs, for having an “enemy ruling over Persians in their own land . . . was a better political arrangement than an enemy ruling over them in his own land.”1493 Yazdgird III, however, refused to accept their arguments. The Khur¯s¯n¯ likewise, “refused to give in a a ıs, to him.” The substantial treasury of the king and the issue of its ownership also complicated matters. The Khur¯s¯n¯ “told [Yazdgird III] to leave their treaa a ıs sures alone, . . . [for they would] return them to their own territory and to its ruler.”1494 This seemed logical enough. But the young king refused to yield to pressure once again. Tabar¯ narrative still does not disclose the precise ı’s . identity of this collective Persians, except that they were Khur¯s¯n¯s. The disaa ı pute, however, got out of hand. For once Yazdgird III refused to relinquish the treasury, the Khur¯s¯n¯ “told him that they would not let him go . . . [they then] a a ıs drew on one side and left him alone with his followers.” Finally the Khur¯s¯n¯ a a ıs took over “the treasures and assuming complete control over them, abandon[ed] him completely.”1495 According to this version of Tabar¯ narrative, the Khur¯s¯n¯ “polytheists ı’s aa ı . [then] wrote to al-Ahnaf”, while driving Yazdgird III to Fargh¯nah.1496 Having a . made peace with Ahnaf and “exchanging agreements with him,” they handed . over Yazdgird III’s treasury to the Arabs and “gradually returned to their lands and wealth in as good a state as they had been at the time of the Sasanian emperors. It was as if they were [still] under their rule except for the fact that the Muslims

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1490 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 51, de Goeje, 2680. Here Sayf mentions Yazdgird III’s ﬂight to Rayy and his ı . ¯ a a u dispute with a ﬁgure called Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih, which quarrel led him to leave Rayy for Isfah¯n. Tabar¯ ı . a . 1994, p. 52, de Goeje, 2681. For the ofﬁce of j¯dh¯yih, see page 197 and footnote 1092. For a a u ¯ a a u conjectural identiﬁcation of Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih, see footnote 1528. 1491 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 59, de Goeje, 2688. ı . 1492 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 59, de Goeje, 2688–2689. ı . 1493 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 59, de Goeje, 2689. ı . 1494 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 59, de Goeje, 2689. ı . 1495 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 59, de Goeje, 2689. ı . 1496 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 59, de Goeje, 2689. ı .

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST §3.4: YAZDGIRD III

were more worthy of their conﬁdence and acted justly toward them.”1497 While the tradition that the advent of the Arab army was the cause of Yazdgird III’s withdrawal to Fargh¯nah might or might not be valid, all evidence corroborates a the rest of Tabar¯ narrative, from which we receive yet another signiﬁcant ı’s . piece of information. Throughout the rule of Umar (634–644), we are told, Yazdgird III maintained some form of correspondence with at least some of the Persians. “So the people of Khur¯s¯n rebelled”, it is interjected, “during the time aa of Uthm¯n [’s caliphate (644–656).]”1498 It was at this point then that “the Khua r¯s¯n¯ threw off their allegiance.”1499 Other sources clarify just who exactly a a ıs these Khur¯s¯n¯ were. a a ıs According to Mad¯ in¯ when Yazdgird III arrived in Khur¯s¯n, he was aca ı, aa companied by “Khurraz¯dh Mihr, the brother of Rustam.”1500 There is, therea fore, no doubt about what our sources had originally informed us: Yazdgird III was still in the company of Farrukhz¯d, the Ispahbudh¯n scion with claims to a a the sp¯hbed¯ of both Khur¯s¯n and Azarb¯yj¯n. In Marv, Farrukhz¯d reporta ı aa a a a edly reminded M¯h¯y, the marzb¯n of Marv,1501 that he was entrusting the king a u a to his protection and then “[he] left for Iraq.” The tradition highlighting Yazdgird III’s attempt at deposing M¯h¯y and the well-circulated traditions that the a u king was murdered at the hands of the latter or at his instigation, all betray the turmoil that engulfed the region as a result of the divergent policies of the young king and the supporters left to him, the marzb¯n of Marv and the Turks, in the a face of the imminent arrival of the Arabs. Ibn al-Kalb¯ tradition found in Taı’s . bar¯ adds a further point: after ﬂeeing to Isfah¯n and then to Rayy, Yazdgird III ı . a entered into correspondence with the overlord (sahib) of Tabarist¯n. This overa . . . lord, who remains unidentiﬁed in Ibn al-Kalb¯ transmission, then “described ı’s his lands for [Yazdgird III] and informed him of their impregnability,” and asked the king to take refuge in his land. The overlord also cautioned the king that promptness was required in the king’s decision, for otherwise he would not “receive . . . [him] or give . . . [him] refuge.” Yazdgird III refused to take refuge in Tabarist¯n, but, as a gesture of appreciation, appointed the overlord (sahib) a . . . as the sp¯hbed of Tabarist¯n, where the latter “had previously held a humbler a a . rank.”1502 Following this narrative on the situation in Tabarist¯n, we receive a . another account where, once again, we are informed that the escort of Yazdgird III in his ﬂight to Khur¯s¯n was the Parthian dynast, Farrukhz¯d.1503 The aa a substantial power of Farrukhz¯d and the almost total dependency of Yazdgird a

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p. 59, de Goeje, 2689. . p. 59, de Goeje, 2689. . 1499 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 60, de Goeje, 2690. ı . 1500 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 79, de Goeje, 2873. ı . 1501 According to Tha ¯lib¯ the regions under the control of M¯h¯ y included Marv, Marv al-R¯ d, a ı, a u u T¯liq¯n, J¯zj¯n¯n, and others. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 744. a ı .a a u a a 1502 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 82, de Goeje, 2875. To properly identify this overlord and sp¯hbed of Tabarisı a . . t¯n, we need to analyze the political situation in Tabarist¯n in more detail, which we postpone to a a . the next chapter; see page 302ff. 1503 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 82, de Goeje, 2876. ı .
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1497 Tabar¯ 1994, ı

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§3.4: YAZDGIRD III C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

III on his protection comes across clearly in a subsequent account transmitted through an unidentiﬁed source in Tabar¯ ı. . 3.4.6 The mutiny of Farrukhz¯d a According to Tabar¯ Yazdgird III “had appointed Farrukhz¯d as governor of ı, a . Marv and ordered Bar¯z, [the son of M¯h¯y] to turn the citadel and the city a a u over to him.” M¯h¯y, however, had opposed this. Farrukhz¯d knelt down a u a before Yazdgird III, and proclaimed: “Marw has proved an intractable problem for you, and these Arabs have caught up with you.” He advised Yazdgird III to go to the country of the Turks in refuge. Yazdgird III, however, “opposed [Farrukhz¯d] and did not accept his advice.”1504 The details of the discord that had a been caused in Marv by Yazdgird III’s arrival need not concern us here. The upshot of it was that M¯h¯y decided to mutiny. What becomes clear through a u the rest of the narrative, however, is that the army under the command of Farrukhz¯d was a central player in the dispute. According to this narrative, M¯h¯y a a u wrote to the Turkic leader N¯ ızak Tarkh¯n, encouraging him to use a ruse and a write to Yazdgird III “in order to separate him from the main body of his soldiers, thereby leaving him with a weak and powerless segment of his army and personal retinue.”1505 Speciﬁcally, M¯h¯y prompted N¯ a u ızak to tell Yazdgird III “that . . . [he] will not come to meet him until Farrukhz¯d parts from him.”1506 N¯ a ızak followed M¯h¯y’s instructions. When the letter reached Yazdgird III and he a u sought advice, no consensus was reached on the course to follow. One faction argued that it was not “wise to dismiss your army and Farrukhz¯d for any reason.” a The other faction enjoined him to relieve himself of the Parthian dynast and his army. Yazdgird III accepted the latter’s advice and “order[ed] . . . Farrukhz¯d to a go to the reed beds of Sarakhs.” Farrukhz¯d allegedly was heart-wrenched. He a “crie[d] . . . out and rent the neck hole [of his garment].” Yet he did not leave until Yazdgird III had written the following letter to him: “This is a letter to Farrukhz¯d. Verily you have turned Yazdagird, his household and his children, a his retinue, and his possessions over safe and secure to M¯hawayh [M¯h¯y], the a a u dihq¯n of Marw. And I hereby bear witness to this.”1507 In view of what will a transpire, there is little doubt that this version was a history patronized by the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n family.1508 a The Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition corroborates important details of various traa a ditions provided by Tabar¯ while adding other signiﬁcant information. Accordı, . ing to the Sh¯hn¯ma, it was Farrukhz¯d who urged Yazdgird III to go north a a a to Tabarist¯n in the midst of his ﬂight east, arguing that the population in a .
1504 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 83, de Goeje, 2877. While Yazdgird III’s disagreement with Farrukhz¯d is here ı a . correctly underlined, the stances of the two parties have been reversed. That is, it was actually Yazdgird III’s idea to take refuge with the Turks and not Farrukhz¯d’s. a 1505 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 84, de Goeje, 2878. ı . 1506 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 84, de Goeje, 2878. ı . 1507 Tabar¯ 1990, p. 85, de Goeje, 2879. ı . 1508 The narrative concerning Yazdgird III’s appointment of the ruler of Tabarist¯n to the rank of a . sp¯hbed, however, is in all likelihood a K¯rinid tradition; see page 302 below. a a

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C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST §3.4: YAZDGIRD III

Tabarist¯n, Amul, and S¯r¯ were the king’s supporters.1509 Yazdgird III, howa ¯ aı . ever, rejected Farrukhz¯d’s advice, and opted for Khur¯s¯n instead. In Khur¯a aa a s¯n, Yazdgird III argued, he was assured of the protection of the marzb¯ns of a a the region, who had a reputation for bravery and warring, as well as the aid of the Turks and the Kh¯q¯n of China. Chief among these marzb¯ns, Yazdgird III a a a told Farrukhz¯d, was M¯h¯y, the kan¯rang of Marv. a a u a According to the Sh¯hn¯ma, while Farrukhz¯d disagreed sternly with Yazda a a gird III’s decision to go to Khur¯s¯n and take refuge with M¯h¯y and the Turks, aa a u he did not abandon the king just yet. Leading the way with his substantial army, the Pahlav dynast proceeded toward Gurg¯n and thence to B¯st (Bisa u a u t¯m).1510 Somewhere between Tus and Marv, M¯h¯y came to greet the last .¯ .a Sasanian king. It was here, Ferdows¯ informs us, that Farrukhz¯d left the king ı a in M¯h¯y’s custody and returned. And now, we are given a signiﬁcant piece a u of information by Ferdows¯ After leaving the king, Farrukhz¯d set out for ı. a Rayy. In the meantime he adopted a new posture vis-à-vis Yazdgird III: he had a change of heart (jod¯ shod zi maghz-¯ bad and¯sh mihr) and the “shepherd came a ı ı to covet the throne (shab¯n r¯ ham¯ kard takht ¯rz¯y).” Pretending to be ill, Fara a ı a u rukhz¯d renounced his allegiance to Yazdgird III.1511 And so the last Sasanian a king lost his last and most formidable source of support: the Pahlav Farrukhz¯d a mutinied. While leaving the king to the care of M¯h¯y, Farrukhz¯d revealed a u a his intent: “I have to leave for Rayy, for I do not know any longer whom I shall
1509 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, pp. 333–334, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2980–2981: ı
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1510 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 337, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2983: ı
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1511 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, pp. 347–348, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2991: ı
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§3.4: YAZDGIRD III C HAPTER 3: A RAB C ONQUEST

consider the king” of this realm.1512 Here, therefore, another part of the puzzle is ﬁnally solved. The Khur¯s¯n¯ of Tabar¯ were none other than Farrukhz¯d a a ıs ı a . and his contingent. We recall, after all, that the family was not only dubbed the princes of Azarb¯yj¯n, but also the sp¯hbeds of Khur¯s¯n.1513 a a a aa Sebeos corroborates the information on the Pahlav leader’s mutiny provided by the Arabic sources and the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition, although his source a a might, in fact, have also been Persian. According to Sebeos, in the twentieth year of the reign of Yazdgird III, that is 651/652, the Arab armies that were “in the land of Persia [F¯rs] and of Khuzhastan [Khuzist¯n] marched eastwards to a a the regions of the land called Pahlaw, which is the land of the Parthians, against Yaztkert king of Persia.”1514 Yazdgird III had already ﬂed before them. After going east, however, the “Prince of the Medes [i.e., Farrukhz¯d]—of whom I said a above that he had gone to the east to their king and, having rebelled had fortiﬁed himself in some place—sought an oath from the Ismaelites [i.e., Arabs] and went into the desert in submission to the Ismaelites.”1515 As Howard–Johnston, Sebeos’ editor, remarks, nowhere in his account does Sebeos mention the rebellion of the Prince of the Medes and his fortiﬁcation somewhere. He suggests, therefore, that “either a passage has dropped out of Sebeos’ text in its long transmission and the cross-reference is his, or, possibly the cross-reference was lifted together with the notice in which it was embedded, from Sebeos’ source, probably the Persian Source.”1516 In all probability it is Howard–Johnston’s second conjecture that is valid. For, as we shall see, not only are the details of Farrukhz¯d’s a rebellion against the Sasanian king generally hidden or implicit in our sources but, in almost all of them, this important Pahlav leader also disappeared from the scene altogether once he had left Yazdgird III behind. This, we shall propose, is one of the many instances of the editorial force that the Ispahbudh¯n a exerted on the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition and, by extension, on other sources a a supplied by this tradition.1517

1512 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 347:
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In Tha ¯lib¯ version, it was Yazdgird III who ordered Farrukhz¯d to go to Iraq and make peace a ı’s a with the Arabs. Farrukhz¯d accepted the king’s orders, warned him of M¯h¯y’s malicious intena a u tions, and left in distress. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 744, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 475. According to Hamza a ı a ı . Isfah¯n¯ the letter that Farrukhz¯d obtained from the king was not one that conﬁrmed the safe a . a ı, transfer of the king to M¯h¯y’s hand, but a contract through which the last Sasanian undertook a u to relinquish his kingship to the Parthian dynast Farrukhz¯d of the Ispahbudh¯n family. Hamza a a . Isfah¯n¯ 1961, p. 55, Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1988, pp. 59–60. . a ı . . a ı 1513 We should also reiterate that the Ispahbudh¯n were the sp¯hbeds of the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n for an a a u aa extended period; see pages 107ff and 188ff. 1514 Sebeos 1999, p. 135. 1515 Sebeos 1999, p. 135. 1516 Sebeos 1999, pp. 135, 265. 1517 For a more detailed discussion of their redactional efforts, see page 462ff below. For another example, see the two versions about Khusrow II’s murder on page 158.

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page 258ff. §3.4.1. 1520 According to Yazdgird III, the M¯h¯ y owed his position to the Sasanian monarchy and not, a u like the Kan¯rang (on whom below), to gentilitial claims. See our discussion at the beginning of a §3.4.7. 1521 See page 250ff. 1522 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 25, de Goeje, 2654. ı .
1519 See

1518 See

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What is of crucial importance in the narratives just discussed is that until the end of Yazdgird III’s ﬂight to Khur¯s¯n, it was the Pahlav leader, Farrukhz¯d, aa a who continued to protect the king. Moreover, the aforementioned Khur¯s¯n¯ aa ı rebellion1518 was in fact a substantive disagreement over strategy and policy between Farrukhz¯d and Yazdgird, leading ultimately to Farrukhz¯d’s mutiny. In a a line with the policies promoted by his brother Rustam,1519 Farrukhz¯d even a proposed to the king that making peace with the Arabs was a more prudent option, while Yazdgird III, in all likelihood fearful of Farrukhz¯d’s power, opted a for taking refuge with someone over whom he believed to have power, namely, M¯h¯y, the marzb¯n of Marv.1520 It is important to note that in the last crua u a cial months of Yazdgird III’s life, when the Arabs had already reached the environs of Khur¯s¯n, Farrukhz¯d still commanded a substantial army, whose aa a withdrawal from Yazdgird III would expedite the king’s demise. With the quarters of the north and east in disarray at this juncture, Farrukhz¯d, with a substantial army under his command, headed west with the intention a of making peace with the Arabs. Signiﬁcantly, as Ferdows¯ informs us, Farı rukhz¯d set out for Rayy. The mutiny of Farrukhz¯d was momentous for the a a fate of the Sasanian empire. It conveniently explains the course of events in the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n and the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n, the land of the Pahlav. It is to be u aa u a a a noted that the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition does not follow what transpired in the a a wake of Farrukhz¯d’s mutiny and his westbound departure in the direction of a Rayy. This omission is partly due to the fact that this tradition ends with the death of Yazdgird III. On the face of it then, we are left in the dark about Farrukhz¯d’s negotiations with the Arabs. The leader of the Pahlav, the progeny of a the Ispahbudh¯n, the sp¯hbed of Khur¯s¯n and Azarb¯yj¯n, Farrukhz¯d, son of a a aa a a a Farrukh Hormozd, seemingly vanishes from the accounts of our sources. That is, if we choose to neglect Sayf’s traditions and the narratives of the conquests. It is now time to recall1521 that in the conquest of Rayy, the one who is said to have “seen what the Muslims were like, [comparing their attitude] with the envy of S¯ avakhsh and his family,” was a ﬁgure bearing the curious name Z¯ ıy¯ ınab¯ Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n.1522 We have, therefore, come full circle to our original ı u a question. Who was this Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n who on account of his age-old ınab¯ u a enmity with the Parthian Mihr¯ns, aided the Arabs in toppling this important a family from their seat of power, and took over the control of their realm? It is here that the histories of Tabarist¯n and G¯ an tie in with the account of a ıl¯ . Yazdgird III’s ﬂight to Khur¯s¯n, to provide a more coherent picture than had aa hitherto been possible.

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§3.4: YAZDGIRD III A hero unveiled: Z¯nab¯ ı ı We should start with an onomastic question: what is the meaning of the name Z¯ ı? For on the face of it, the term seems neither to be Arabic nor Persian. ınab¯ Z¯ ı, occurring in other sources as Z¯ ınab¯ ınaband,1523 is, in fact, the Arabicized, contracted form of the Persian term z¯n¯vand, meaning one who is wellarmed. ı a The Zand-i Vahuman Yasn, for example, speaks of a large, well-armed (z¯n¯ı a vand) army that is responsible for bestowing kingship to the Kay¯nids.1524 The a F¯rsn¯ma also uses the term in this same sense.1525 Z¯ ı then is an epithet, a a ınab¯ not a name. It is an adjective describing the holder of the epithet as one who is wellarmed, in this case Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n. Bal¯dhur¯ speciﬁcally maintains that u a a ı Z¯ ı was the nomenclature given by the Arabs to this ﬁgure.1526 ınab¯ The abrupt disappearance of the powerful ﬁgure of the Ispahbudh¯n Fara rukhz¯d from our accounts, and the sudden appearance of the mysterious but a equally powerful Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n at the exact juncture in our narraınab¯ u a tives is hardly coincidental. A closer examination of the latter’s name leaves therefore very little doubt that Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n is none other than the ınab¯ u a Ispahbudh¯n Farrukhz¯d: Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n,1527 the wellarmed, who a a ınab¯ u a with his large army mysteriously materialized to assist the Arabs in the conquest of Rayy and, as a result, gained supremacy over this important Mihr¯nid a domain. Z¯ ı, moreover, we notice, arrived on the scene at the precise moınab¯ ment when Farrukhz¯d had abandoned Yazdgird III in Khur¯s¯n and, with his a aa large army, was on his way to Rayy, the ancestral domain of his family’s nemeses, the Mihr¯ns.1528 Furthermore, in anticipation of our detailed study of the a
p. 317. 1883, Zand-i Vahuman Yasn, Tehran, 1963, translated by Sadegh Hedayat (Vahuman 1883), p. 58, n. 9:
1524 Vahuman
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1525 Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 95. Signiﬁcantly, this army appears after the account of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ ı a u ın and might in fact be a description of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ own army. See page 406ff. Z¯n¯vand was a u ın’s ı a also the epithet of Tahm¯rath. Ibn Balkh¯ maintains that he “was called Tahm¯rath-i z¯n¯vand and u ı u ı a . . z¯n¯vand was his epithet and [it] means well-armed.” Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 95 and n. 1. Bundahishn ı a ı 1990, Bundahish, Tehran, 1990, translated by Mihrdad Bahar (Bundahishn 1990), n. 58. 1526 Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 318. a ı 1527 In this respect, we should also recall the confusion in some of our sources between Farrukhz¯d a and his father Farrukh Hormozd, who at times is called Farrukh¯n; see page 143ff. The Arabic a kunya-preﬁx Ab¯ (father of ) when used in Iranian names is also notoriously unreliable, to the extent u that it could even mean son of , so that we may interpret Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n here as the son of u a Farrukh¯n, that is to say, of Farrukh Hormozd (see §2.7.5). Indeed, some of our sources, we recall, a refer to Z¯ ı as the son of Farrukh¯n (i.e., Farrukh Hormozd); see footnote 1445. ınab¯ a 1528 We can now also shed some light on an enigmatic passage in Tabar¯ about the altercation ı . ¯ a a u between Yazdgird III and a certain Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih. When Yazdgird III on his ﬂight eastwards ¯ a a u arrived in Rayy, he was imprisoned by its ruler, called Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih. The king accused him of ¯ a a u mutiny, to which Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih replied: “No, rather you have abandoned your empire, and it has fallen into the hands of someone else. I [only] want to record everything that is mine and nothing else”. Tabar¯ 1994, p. 52, de Goeje, 2681. In other words, the dispute was over Rayy’s treasury. ı . ¯ a a u Once the king agreed to grant Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih his properties, he left Rayy. His subsequent itinerary

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political situation in Tabarist¯n,1529 we shall further see that Farrukhz¯d was a a . also the same ﬁgure who appeared in our accounts of the conquest of Tabaris. t¯n as Farrukh¯n, the ispahbud-i ispahbudh¯n, with authority over Tabarist¯n, a a a a . and who signed, in collaboration with J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, a peace treaty with the ıl-i ıl¯ a Arabs.1530 Who, however, are the other players on the scene? What else is transpiring in the Parthian domains at this juncture? We have left out thus far one last, crucial ﬁgure in the ﬁnal saga of the Sasanian king: the Kan¯rang of Tus. a .¯ 3.4.7 The conquest of Khur¯s¯n and the mutiny of the Kan¯rang¯ an aa a ıy¯ According to Ferdows¯ during his eastward ﬂight, Yazdgird III wrote two letı, ters to the kan¯rangs of his choice in the east, M¯h¯y and the Kan¯rang-i Tus. a a u a .¯ Faced with Farrukhz¯d’s insistence that he should take refuge in Tabarist¯n, the a a . king argued that he preferred to go under the protection of M¯h¯y, because of a u the latter’s reputation as a warmonger and a slanderer. Yazdgird III further argued that since M¯h¯y owed his title (n¯m), land (ard), frontier (marz), and the a u a . rest of his possessions to the king, his loyalty to the Sasanians was guaranteed. That he was lowborn, was all the more to the king’s advantage, since raising the ignoble to nobility would insure loyalty to the Sasanians. In Ferdows¯ ı’s rendition, there follows a didactic passage in which the king set forth the mutual beneﬁts of forming a patron–client relationship, while the Parthian dynast Farrukhz¯d enumerated the evils of relying on non-nobility. Given the status a of our current knowledge, we cannot ascertain the precise identity of this M¯a h¯y-i S¯r¯ 1531 As Ferdows¯ narrative unfolds, however, it becomes quite clear u u ı. ı’s that the author’s slander of M¯h¯y1532 is meant to be juxtaposed with his praise a u for another marzb¯n of Khur¯s¯n, the Kan¯rang of Tus. The Kan¯rang’s title, a aa a a .¯ according to Ferdows¯ was deservedly bestowed, and he bore it in a normative ı, fashion. These normative dimensions are enumerated in detail in the letter of Yazdgird III to the Kan¯rang of Tus.1533 The ﬁnale of this correspondence— a .¯
was Isfah¯n, Kirm¯n, and ﬁnally Khur¯s¯n. Now, as Rayy was the capital of the Mihr¯ns, our ﬁrst a aa a . a ¯ a a u guess would be that its ruler Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih was a Mihr¯n, possibly S¯ avakhsh. Tabar¯ 1994, a ıy¯ ı . p. 24, de Goeje, 2653. However, as we can readily see, this narrative is reminiscent of the treasury dispute between the king and Farrukhz¯d (see §3.4.6). As Farrukhz¯d, under the alias Z¯ ı Ab¯ a a ınab¯ u ’l-Farrukh¯n, did become the ruler of Rayy with the aid of the Arabs (see §3.4.4, pages 250 and a ¯ a a u 254), we may conjecture that Ab¯n J¯dh¯yih is really Farrukhz¯d. We can link this conjectural a ¯ a identiﬁcation also to our previous conjecture about the ofﬁce of j¯dh¯yih, in which Ab¯n, rather a u than being a proper name, stands for the tenth day of the month (see footnote 1092). 1529 See §4.4.1. 1530 See page 254. The reader should be forewarned that yet another enigmatic ﬁgure will appear in these accounts, which yet again turns out to be our notorious Farrukhz¯d; see page 291ff. a 1531 As this names suggests, it is possible that he actually belonged to the S¯ ren family. u 1532 Ferdows¯ narrative discredits M¯h¯ y explicitly, questioning his loyalty and stressing his humı’s a u ble origins. Ferdows¯ debasing of the kan¯rang of Marv might of course have been formed by the ı’s a poet’s post-facto knowledge of M¯h¯y’s complicity in the death of the king. According to Hamza a u . Isfah¯n¯ “down to his day in Marv and its vicinity people called the descendants of Mahoe . . . king . a ı, killers (khud¯-kush¯n).” Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1988, p. 43, as quoted in Yarshater, Yarshater 1983b, p. 404. a a . . a ı 1533 The ﬁrst letter, as we have seen, was addressed to M¯h¯ y-i S¯ r¯ the kan¯rang of Marv. All a u u ı, a that the poet informs us of here is that the king described his plight, requested M¯h¯y to prepare a u

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articulated, signiﬁcantly, not in the Sh¯hn¯ma, but in the Ghurar of Tha ¯lia a a b¯ ı—reveals that Farrukhz¯d was not alone in his mutiny against Yazdgird III. a As opposed to the curt letter written to M¯h¯y, Ferdows¯ furnishes us with a a u ı lengthy—eighty three couplets in total—version of the contents of the second letter, written to the Kan¯rang of Tus from the Kan¯rang¯ an family. a a ıy¯ .¯ The Kan¯rang¯y¯n a ı a The Kan¯rang¯ an were in possession of “Kingly Glory,” farr, land (ard), justice a ıy¯ . (d¯d) and law (r¯h) in Ferdows¯ rendition. Their high lineage was well estaba a ı’s lished and acknowledged. Ferdows¯ then provides us with detailed information ı on the regional extent of the Kan¯rang¯ an’s power. Toward the end of Sasanian a ıy¯ rule—and, yet again, the post-Bagratuni situation in Khur¯s¯n needs to be kept aa in mind—the Kan¯rang¯ an ruled over an extensive territory that included Shea ıy¯ m¯ an, R¯y¯ Dizh, R¯dih K¯h, and Kal¯t.1534 Now Shem¯ an is most likely ır¯ u ın a u a ır¯ ¯ a u the fortress of Sham¯ an in Tus mentioned by Y¯q¯t,1535 and not the famous ıl¯ . village and fortress of Shem¯ an located in Her¯t, nor the fortress of the same ır¯ a name located in Balkh. For the topography of the region1536 as well as the political situation of the realm on the eve of the conquests, would have precluded the Kan¯rang¯ an’s power over such a dispersed region.1537 R¯dih K¯h is part a ıy¯ a u ¯ a a of a series of mountains located in the region of Tus, R¯dihk¯n being the name . a of a district in the environs of Tus. Kal¯t evidently refers to what in the later .¯ period came to be identiﬁed with the Kal¯t-i N¯der¯ one of the natural wona a ı, ders and fortresses of Khur¯s¯n, on the road to Nis¯. The Islamic narratives, aa a betraying a separate source, conﬁrm Ferdows¯ delimitation of the territorial ı’s control of the Kan¯rang¯ an.1538 Who, however, were the Kan¯rang¯ an, and a ıy¯ a ıy¯ what was their position in Sasanian history? We recall that in a number of signiﬁcant episodes which we have recounted, they took their place among the important policy makers and military commanders of the realm. It is appropriate, therefore, to suspend temporarily the chronological order of our narrative for an examination of the Kan¯rang¯ an’s history during the Sasanian period. a ıy¯ We have information on the Kan¯rang¯ an family as the rulers in the east goa ıy¯ ing as far back as Yazdgird I’s reign (399–420). As we shall see, the Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ were a dynastic family, and there is little doubt that they were from Parthian ancestry. According to the Sh¯hn¯ma, the Kan¯rang was one of the central a a a
his army for combat, and informed him that he himself would be following on the tail of the courier. The letter, as reproduced by Ferdows¯ is extremely short—nine couplets in total—and has ı, a very general tone. Being the king’s correspondence with the kan¯rang of his choice, its brevity as a opposed to the subsequent letter to the Kan¯rang of Tus is all the more puzzling. Ferdows¯ 1971, a ı .¯ vol. IX, pp. 339–340, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 458. ı 1534 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 339. ı 1535 Yaq¯ t al-Hamaw¯ 1866. u ı 1536 A detailed investigation of the topographical characteristics of Greater Khur¯s¯n was underaa taken in Pourshariati 1995, pp. 110–155. See also our brief discussion of Inner Khur¯s¯n and Outer aa Khur¯s¯n in §6.2.1 below. aa 1537 Dihkhuda 1998, p. 14505. 1538 See our discussion on page 276 below.

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vol. IX, pp. 285–287, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2097–2098. See §2.2.2. ı Balkh¯ 1995, p. 203; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 284, Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2097–2098. For the ı ı ı symbolism of the horse, see page 388. 1541 For the ofﬁce of kan¯rang, see for instance Khurshudian 1998, §1.4. a 1542 See §2.4.1. 1543 For the name, see Khurshudian 1998, p. 74. 1544 Procopius 1914, v. 1–7, p. 33. 1545 We are trusting Khurshudian’s reconstruction of Procopius’ Adergoudounbades as the equiv1540 Ibn

1539 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

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ﬁgures to conspire against the tyrannical rule of Yazdgird I the Sinner and to bring about the murder of the king.1539 We recall, that Yazdgird I is said to have been kicked to death by a horse, speciﬁcally in Tus.1540 Two aspects of the .¯ Kan¯rang¯ an’s power are clearly established from the fourth century onward. a ıy¯ Firstly, their ofﬁce1541 was of such great importance and its occupant so high in the ranks of the Parthian dynastic families, that they were directly involved in the dynastic struggles against the Sasanians from the late fourth century onward. Secondly and related to the ﬁrst, the ofﬁce was of such importance that it remained hereditary. Of both of these facts, Procopius informs us directly. After the nobility had put Bil¯sh (484–488) in power,1542 and “after the expresa sion of many opinions . . . there came forward a certain man of repute among the Persians, whose name was Gousanastades (Gushn¯spd¯d),1543 and whose ofa a ﬁce was that of chanaranges . . . His ofﬁcial province lay on the very frontier of the Persian territory, in a district which adjoins the land of the Hephthalites.” The chanaranges was one of the main parties advocating the murder of Qub¯d, a Bil¯sh’s (484–488) rival. Holding up his knife, the chanaranges Gushn¯spd¯d a a a declared to the other factions: “You see this knife, how extremely small it is; nevertheless it is able at present time to accomplish a deed which, be assured, my dear Persians, a little later two myriads of mail clad men could not bring to pass.” However, Gushn¯spd¯d’s opinion was overridden and Qub¯d was ina a a stead imprisoned.1544 Under unclear circumstances, however, the king was able to escape from prison, ﬂee, and take refuge with the Hephthalites. He was then able to return and assume power. On his way back west from the Hephthalites, Qub¯d had to cross the territory of the chanaranges, Gushn¯spd¯d, in Khur¯a a a a s¯n. Here Procopius furnishes us with further signiﬁcant information about a the ofﬁce of kan¯rang. Qub¯d informed his supporters “that he would appoint a a as chanaranges the ﬁrst man of the Persians who should on that day come to his presence.” No sooner had he declared his intention, however, Qub¯d reala ized the impossibility of bringing it to fruition. For “even as he said this, he repented his speech, for there came to his mind a law of the Persians which ordain[ed] that ofﬁces among the Persians shall not be conferred upon others than those to whom each particular honour belongs by right of birth.” Qub¯d’s apprehension a was subsequently articulated in no uncertain terms by Procopius. For, the king feared lest “someone should come to him ﬁrst who was not a kinsman of the present chanaranges, and that he would be compelled to set aside the law in order to keep his word.” As luck would have it, the ﬁrst man to approach the Sasanian ¯ king was none other than Adergoudounbades (Adhargulb¯d),1545 “a young man a

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who was a relative of Gousanastades [Gushn¯spd¯d] and an especially capable a a warrior.”1546 Qub¯d was thus presented with an opportunity, so that after rea turning to the capital and assuming the throne, Gushn¯spd¯d was put to death a a ¯ and “Adergoudounbades [Adhargulb¯d] was established in his place in the ofﬁce a of chanaranges.”1547 Throughout the reign of Qub¯d (488–531), the Kan¯rang¯ an continued to a a ıy¯ hold substantial powers. In Qub¯d’s last war against Byzantium, chanaranges, a ¯ that is, Adhargulb¯d, was one of the three commanders that led the Persian a army into Mesopotamia, the others being, Mermeroes, our famous Mihr¯nid a Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ 1548 the supreme commander of the land (isbahbadh al-bil¯d), and a u a ı, a . Aspebedes from the Ispahbudh¯n family.1549 In the early years of Khusrow I’s a reign, the Kan¯rang¯ an partook in a mutiny mentioned by Procopius but a ıy¯ rarely in other sources.1550 “In vexation over Khusrow I’s unruly turn of mind and strange fond[ness] of innovation,” the Persians decided to bring Qub¯d, a a child of Khusrow I’s brother J¯m¯sp, to power. Discovering the conspiracy, a a Khusrow I had the parties involved executed, including his uncle Aspebedes. Here comes the most interesting information, for as Procopius informs us, Khusrow I was “unable to kill [the child Qub¯d] for he was still being reared a ¯ under the chanaranges, Adergoudounbades [Adhargulb¯d].” By virtue of their a power, therefore, the Kan¯rang¯ an were directly tied to the Sasanian court, in a ıy¯ this case by raising a potential rival to the throne. Their agnatic descent must have been of such high pedigree that they could engage in a practice similar to dayeakordi, or foster brother-ship. So Khusrow I sent a “message to the cha¯ naranges, Adergoudounbades [Adhargulb¯d], bidding him to kill the boy hima self; for he neither thought it well to show mistrust, nor yet had the power to compel ¯ ¯ him [i.e., Adhargulb¯d].”1551 In consultation with his wife, however, Adhargula b¯d decided to forego the kings orders, and hid the child “in the most secure cona cealment.” He subsequently informed Khusrow I that they had in fact obeyed his orders and murdered the child. The whole affair was kept in such secrecy ¯ that no one came to suspect it except Adhargulb¯d’s own son Varrames (Baha r¯m), one of the Sasanians’ trustworthy servants. As the child Qub¯d became a a ¯ of age, however, Adhargulb¯d bid him to ﬂee and save himself lest his identity a become known to Khusrow I.1552 This state of affairs remained hidden from Khusrow I until later when he was invading the land of the Colchis and Bahr¯m was accompanying him. On this occasion, Bahr¯m betrayed his father and, a a

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¯ alent of the Persian name Adhargulb¯d, and henceforth will use the latter. Khurshudian 1998, a p. 74. 1546 Procopius 1914, vi. 9–17, p. 47. 1547 Procopius 1914, vi. 17–vii., p. 49. 1548 See §2.4.4. 1549 Procopius 1914, xx. 12–xxi, p. 195. For Aspebedes, the grandfather of Vist¯hm and Vind¯ yih, a u see page 110ff. 1550 See page 111ff. 1551 Procopius 1914, xxiii. 4–10, p. 211. 1552 Procopius 1914, xxiii. 10–15, p. 213.

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through an elaborate scheme, forced upon the king by his inability to directly ¯ harm the Kan¯rang¯ an, Khusrow I ﬁnally had Adhargulb¯d killed.1553 Accorda ıy¯ a ¯ ing to Procopius, Adhargulb¯d was “a man who was in fact as well as in name an a invincible general among the Persians, who had marched against twelve nations of barbarians and subjected them all to King Cabades. After Adergoudounbades had been removed from the world, Varrames [Bahr¯m], his son, received a the ofﬁce of chanaranges.”1554 Procopius’ fascinating narrative underscores three important issues. One is the fact that the Kan¯rang¯ an held their exalted posia ıy¯ tion in the east, in Parthava, a region that was the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudh¯n family, as Sebeos had previously informed us. Secondly, the ofﬁce a of the kan¯rang was an extremely important ofﬁce in the Sasanian realm, an a ofﬁce that by law and tradition remained hereditary in the Kan¯rang¯ an fama ıy¯ ily. Finally, while their agnatic family is not speciﬁed in Procopius’ nor in any other narrative, the Kan¯rang¯ an are invariably associated with the Parthian a ıy¯ Ispahbudh¯n family. Thus we might conjecture that the Kan¯rang¯ an family a a ıy¯ was a branch of the Ispahbudh¯n family.1555 Even Christensen admits that the a Kan¯rang¯ an must have belonged to one of the seven great feudal families of a ıy¯ the realm.1556 The Kan¯rang¯ an continued to be centrally involved in Sasaa ıy¯ nian affairs in subsequent decades. In the coalition that had formed to depose Khusrow II,1557 when Farrukhz¯d informed the Armenian dynast Varaztirots‘ a that they had decided on Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s kingship, the latter replied that the ır¯ a choice was acceptable not only to his party, but also to the Kan¯rang¯ an fama ıy¯ ily.1558 At the battle of Q¯disiya, we recall that a Kan¯ra commanded the light a a cavalry of Rustam’s army,1559 together with his son Shahr¯ ar b. Kan¯r¯ who ıy¯ aa fell at that battle.1560 It is in light of what we know of the exalted position of the Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ family in Sasanian history, then, that we should consider Ferdows¯ narrative of ı’s Yazdgird III’s correspondence with the Kan¯rang of Tus on the eve of the Arab a .¯ conquest. While the Sh¯hn¯ma informs us of Yazdgird III’s correspondence a a with the Kan¯rang on his eastward ﬂight, it remains, however, silent on the a family’s response to the last Sasanian king. There is no doubt that we are dealing
1553 The king informed Adhargulb¯d that he had decided to invade the Byzantine territory on two ¯ a fronts and that he was giving the kan¯rang the honor of accompanying him on one of these fronts. a ¯ Adhargulb¯d obliged. It was in the course of this affair that the kan¯rang was put to death by a a Khusrow I. Procopius 1914, xxiii. 15–21, p. 215. 1554 Procopius 1914, xxiii. 21–28, p. 217. We also recall that together with the Mihr¯nid Sh¯a a ¯ u a ı, a a p¯r R¯z¯ the chanaranges Adhargulb¯d occupied a central role in Qub¯d’s campaigns against the ¯ Byzantines and the siege of Amid. Ibid., p. 195. Joshua the Stylite 2000, pp. 60–61, especially n. 292. 1555 For an elaboration on this postulate, see page 276ff below. 1556 Christensen 1944, pp. 107–108, n. 3 and p. 351, n. 2. 1557 See §2.7.6. 1558 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 245, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2901: ı ı
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1559 Tabar¯ 1992, ı 1560 Tabar¯ 1992, ı

. .

p. 53, de Goeje, 2258. p. 131, de Goeje, 2346. See page 232.

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here, yet again, with a case of Parthian editorial rewriting of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a tradition. For as the secessionist movement of Vist¯hm and the mutiny of Fara rukhz¯d were deleted from some recensions of this tradition, so too was the a Kan¯rang’s response to Yazdgird III deleted from the pages of the Sh¯hn¯ma, a a a for reasons that will become clear shortly. For the Kan¯rang¯ an’s reply to a ıy¯ Yazdgird III, therefore, we are forced to turn to the accounts of Tha ¯lib¯ a near a ı, contemporary of Ferdows¯ whose report at times, as in this instance, differs ı, from that of the Sh¯hn¯ma. According to Tha ¯lib¯ when Yazdgird III reached a a a ı, the environ of N¯ ap¯r “he was, on the one hand, fearful of the Arabs, and on ısh¯ u the other, apprehensive of the Turks. He did not trust the walls (his¯r) of N¯ ı.a sh¯p¯r and its fortiﬁcation (dizh).”1561 In search of a strategically sound refuge, a u Yazdgird III, who had heard the description of the strength and sturdiness of the fortiﬁcations of Tus, “sent someone to acquaint himself with the situation .¯ there.” The important information that Tha ¯lib¯ account provides is that a ı’s the Kan¯rang of Tus rejected Yazdgird III’s request for protection: not pleased a .¯ with the possibility of the king’s arrival, the Kan¯rang “gave directions to a a remote fortress and, together with presents, sent the envoy back.” He asked the messenger to inform Yazdgird III that Tus had “a small fortress that did .¯ not meet the needs of [the king] and his entourage.”1562 In this hour of need, therefore, the Kan¯rang, like Farrukhz¯d and his army, abandoned and betrayed a a Yazdgird III. The contours of the events in Khur¯s¯n have now been clariﬁed. Upon the aa arrival of Yazdgird III in Khur¯s¯n, there ensued a crisis: possibly in opposiaa tion to Yazdgird III’s policies, the people of Khur¯s¯n rebelled and Farrukhz¯d aa a mutinied. Certainly simultaneously, the Kan¯rang¯ an also refused to lend supa ıy¯ port to Yazdgird III. Yet there is more to what was transpiring in Khur¯s¯n on aa the eve of the conquest of the region. While extremely partial to Arab affairs— and precisely because of this—the fut¯h narratives follow the course of events in u. the region just before the conquest. They invariably begin with the conquest of Tus and N¯ ap¯r and highlight the crucial role played by the Kan¯rang¯ ısh¯ u a ı.¯ y¯n. Interestingly enough, while the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition highlights the a a a
1561 As we have argued elsewhere, Yazdgird III’s strategic considerations were in fact quite sound. N¯ ap¯r was sheltered to its north by a chain of mountains that ran on a northwest–southeasterly ısh¯ u axis. To its immediate south and southwest, however, the city opened up to the plateau. While the mountains could have provided protection from the Turks, the plain could not offer any protection from the Arabs on his trail. Such was not the case with Tus. Tus was situated in the midst of two .¯ .¯ mountain chains. It was, so to speak, clasped between them. In the turmoil that had engulfed the Sasanian realm, therefore, and in his ﬂight east, the last Sasanian king Yazdgird III could have had protection from both enemies on either ﬂank were he to position himself in the sturdy fortresses under the control of the Kan¯rang¯ an in Tus. Ferdows¯ is explicit about this: “Verily in those a ıy¯ ı .¯ high mountains and soaring peaks, from the Turk and Arab there shan’t be injury.” Ferdows¯ 1971, ı vol. IX, p. 345:
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1562 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, a ı

For the strategic location of Tus, see Pourshariati 1995, Chapter III. .¯ p. 743.

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correspondence of Yazdgird III with the Kan¯rang, the fut¯h narratives undera u. line the complicity of the Kan¯rang¯ an with the Arabs. Almost all of the a ıy¯ narratives at our disposal inform us of what is purported to be some form of correspondence between the Kan¯rang and the Arab conquerors. In the Islamic a sources, the Kan¯rang, as we shall call him henceforth, is variously identiﬁed a ¯ as kan¯rang,1563 kan¯r,1564 Kan¯dbak, the ruler (am¯r) of Tus,1565 Kan¯r¯ b. Aa a a ı aı .¯ 1566 1567 1568 1569 mir, marzb¯n, a king (malik) of Tus, or the governor of Khur¯s¯n. aa .¯ His letter, in which he invited the Arabs to conquer the region, according to some was addressed to Uthm¯n, the third Muslim caliph, or, according to otha ¯ ers, to Abdall¯h b. Amir, the Arab general who initially overcame the region. a Dynastic struggles in N¯sh¯p¯r ı a u The fut¯h narratives on the conquest of Khur¯s¯n make it unclear whether the u. aa conquest of N¯ ap¯r took place peacefully (sulhan) or through war (anwatan). ısh¯ u . . The theme of . ulhan/anwatan is often, but not always, a reﬂection of legal s . discussions in later centuries.1570 In this case, however, the controversy over the nature of the conquest of Khur¯s¯n actually betrays a historical reality: aa dynastic factionalism on the eve of the Arab conquest of the region. One of the paramount reasons behind the confusion has to do with the fact that not all of the dynastic families with a stake in the region chose to cooperate with the Arabs. Speciﬁcally, the control over N¯ ap¯r was in dispute at this juncture. ısh¯ u Ma mar¯ narrative underscores this situation. According to the Sh¯hn¯ma-i ı’s a a ¯ Ab¯ Mansur¯, when “ Umar . . . sent Abdall¯h b. Amir to call people to the u a .¯ ı religion of Muhammad (Peace be upon Him and his Family), the Kan¯rang sent a . his son to N¯ ap¯r to welcome him; [but] people [who] were in the old fortress did ısh¯ u ¯ not obey. He [ Abdall¯h b. Amir] asked his [i.e., the Kan¯rang’s son’s] help. He a a helped so affairs were set in order.” According to the Sh¯hn¯ma-i Ab¯ Mansua a u .¯ r¯, in exchange for their aid against the “people in the old fortress,” Abdall¯h ı a ¯ b. Amir added the governorship over all of N¯sh¯p¯r to the jurisdiction of the ı a u Kan¯rang¯ an.1571 a ıy¯
1563 N¯ ap¯ r¯ Ab¯ Abdall¯h H¯kim, The Histories of Nishapur, the Hague, 1965, edited by Richard ısh¯ u ı, u a .a ısh¯ u ı Frye (N¯ ap¯r¯ 1965), folio 61. 1564 Nöldeke 1979, pp. 2156–2157, de Goeje, 2886. See footnote 1596. 1565 Kuf¯ Ab¯ Muhammad Ahmad b. A tham, Fut¯h, Tehran, 1921, translation of Kuf¯ 1986 by ı, u u. ı . . A.M. Mustowﬁ al-Hirawi (Kuf¯ 1921), p. 115. See footnote 1578. ı 1566 Khayy¯t 1977, pp. 164–165. a. 1567 Hamad¯n¯ Ibn al-Faq¯ al-Buld¯n, Leiden, 1885, edited by M.J. de Goeje (Hamad¯n¯ 1885), a ı, ıh, a a ı p. 307. 1568 Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 405. a ı 1569 N¯ ap¯ r¯ 1965, folio 60–61. ısh¯ u ı 1570 See Robinson 2003 and the sources cited therein. 1571 “Then he [ Abdall¯h b. Amir?] asked for a loan of a thousand dirhams. Then he [ Abdall¯h ¯ a a ¯ b. Amir] asked for hostages (girowg¯n); [Kan¯rang] said that he didn’t have any. So he [ Abdall¯h a a a ¯ ¯ b. Amir] asked for N¯ ap¯r. He [Kan¯rang] gave him N¯ ap¯r. When he [ Abdall¯h b. Amir] ısh¯ u a ısh¯ u a ¯ ¯ took the money, he [ Abdall¯h b. Amir] gave it [N¯ ap¯r] back. Abdall¯h b. Amir gave him the a ısh¯ u a war (¯n harb u r¯ d¯d) and Kan¯rang fought him(?). And the story remains that Tus belongs to a . a ¯ a a .¯

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Initially, the Kan¯rang’s control over N¯ ap¯r was disputed. At least one a ısh¯ u segment of N¯ ap¯r’s population was ﬁghting against the Arabs and the Kan¯ısh¯ u a rang¯ an’s complicity with the latter. They, therefore, rebelled. Most sources ıy¯ at our disposal highlight the problematic nature of the Kan¯rang’s control over a N¯ ap¯r, for, according to some of these, he promised to aid the Arabs in ısh¯ u exchange for being appointed governor of Khur¯s¯n,1572 whereas according to aa others, it was the governorship of N¯ ap¯r that was at stake. According to ısh¯ u ¯ Ya q¯b¯ for example, in his letter to Abdall¯h b. Amir, the Kan¯rang prou ı, a a posed: “I will [help] make you the ﬁrst to reach Khur¯s¯n if you promise the aa governorship of N¯ ap¯r to me.” Having fulﬁlled his promise, Abdall¯h gave ısh¯ u a the king of Tus a letter which “to this day is with his offspring.”1573 Now .¯ Ya q¯b¯ who wrote in the last decades of the ninth century, was working at the u ı, aa ısh¯ u T¯hirid court in Khur¯s¯n, and probably in N¯ ap¯r. He was, in other words, .a in a position to be well acquainted with the family in the nearby city of Tus .¯ who claimed lineage, two and a half centuries back, to the ruler of Tus from .¯ the Kan¯rang¯ an family. The implications of this extremely signiﬁcant piece a ıy¯ of information, will be discussed elsewhere. For now it should be noted that the rendition of those accounts that refer to the Kan¯rang as the governor of a Khur¯s¯n,1574 should be juxtaposed with those that refer to Farrukhz¯d as the aa a sp¯hbed of Khur¯s¯n.1575 a aa That on the eve of the conquest, the Kan¯rang was no longer in complete a control of N¯ ap¯r is also borne out by a number of other sources, all of which ısh¯ u seem to have a native Khur¯s¯n¯ purview. The Ta r¯kh-i N¯sh¯p¯r, for example, aa ı ı ı a u
so-and-so who holds N¯ ap¯r as a hostage.” In light of other sources at our disposal (see below), ısh¯ u I offered here an alternative reading of the above passage than Minorsky, V., ‘The Older Preface to the Sh¯hn¯ma’, in Studi orientalistici in onore de Giorgio Levi Della Vida, pp. 260–273, Rome, 1964 a a (Minorsky 1964), p. 273. It should be noted that Qazvini’s commentary on this passage agrees with ¯ my reading of the text: “[It was] Abdall¯h b. Amir who asked kan¯rang or his son for a thousand a a dirhams, and gave N¯ ap¯r, which Abdall¯h had apparently conquered before, . . . as a hostage to ısh¯ u a the kan¯rang, and not the other way around.” See Qazvini 1984, p. 89, n. 5. a 1572 According to Bal¯dhur¯ for example, in his letters to both Abdall¯h b. Amir and Sa d b. As ¯ ¯ a ı, a . b. Umaya, the governor (w¯l¯) of K¯fa, the Kan¯rang invited them to conquer Khur¯s¯n provided aı u a aa that whomever succeeded “would give him the governorship of Khur¯s¯n.” Bal¯dhur¯ 1968, p. 334: aa a ı
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1574 “Im¯m H¯kim . . . said . . . that at the time of the rule of Abdall¯h b. Amir . . . in Basrah and ¯ a .a a . ¯ Sa d b. As in K¯fa . . . the kan¯rang, who was the governor of Khur¯s¯n and a Magian, wrote a u a aa . letter to them. He invited them to Khur¯s¯n and [illegible] promised [illegible] and said that the aa ruthless Yazdgird III has been killed in Marv.” N¯ ap¯r¯ 1965, folio 60–61. ısh¯ u ı 1575 We shall discuss the exact nature of the Kan¯rang’s relationship with Farrukhz¯d further on a a page 276.

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Also see Hamad¯n¯ 1885, p. 307. a ı Ahmad b. Ab¯ Ya q¯b, al-Buld¯n, Tehran, 1977, translation of Ya q¯bi 1967 by M.I. ı u a u . Ayati (Ya q¯bi 1977), p. 114, Ya q¯bi, Ahmad b. Ab¯ Ya q¯b, Kitâb al-Boldân, Leiden, 1967, edited u u ı u . by M.J. de Goeje (Ya q¯bi 1967), p. 296: u
1573 Ya q¯ bi, u

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¯ corroborates this information provided by Ma mar¯ When Abdall¯h b. Amir ı. a and his army reached N¯ ap¯r, they “came to the middle of the two gates of ısh¯ u Jurj¯n and F¯rs. The fractious people of N¯ ap¯r . . . [however] protested at the a a ısh¯ u environs of the fortress and the ramparts [of the city].” The rebellion led to a stalemate that apparently lasted for nine months, after which peace ensued.1576 This local history provides further, extremely signiﬁcant, information about ¯ the identity of the leader of the rebellion in N¯ ap¯r. When Abdall¯h b. Aısh¯ u a mir reached the environs of N¯ ap¯r, “Barz¯n J¯h, the rebellious insurgent, ısh¯ u a a who was . . . the governor of the territory,” put up a staunch resistance. Trying to secure himself against the offensive of the Arabs, Barz¯n J¯h set out for his a a “base [illegible] to the rampart and the quhandiz” with a group of other people. War ensued, and it was at this point and against Barz¯n J¯h, that the Kan¯rang a a a aided the Arab army. Once the insurgents were defeated, the Kan¯rang came to a ¯ Abdall¯h b. Amir and accepted the khar¯j (tax) of Abarshahr, that is of N¯ aa a ısh¯ 1577 p¯r and Tus. u We shall postulate here that the name Barz¯n is in all likelihood a .¯ a scribal error for Burz¯ the famous Mithraic ﬁre in the vicinity of Tus and ın, .¯ N¯ ap¯r. The term J¯h is less clear. If we may hazard a guess, it could be a ısh¯ u a corruption of sh¯h, king, and hence this ﬁgure’s name should be reconstructed a as Burz¯ Sh¯h. According to the local history of N¯ ap¯r, therefore, Burz¯ ın a ısh¯ u ın Sh¯h was a governor of this territory. By juxtaposing the facts that the Kan¯a a rang coveted the governorship of Khur¯s¯n and that Burz¯ Sh¯h claimed to aa ın a be the governor of the territory, we can conclude that on the eve of the Arab conquest of the territory, a dynastic struggle was taking place in Khur¯s¯n over aa the control of the region. The fut¯h narratives corroborate the information provided by the native u. Khur¯s¯n¯ tradition, adding other signiﬁcant data. According to A tham al-K¯aa ı u f¯ the name of the leader of the opposition faction in N¯ ap¯r was Asw¯r and ı, ısh¯ u a ¯ it was against Asw¯r’s stalwartness that the Kan¯rang came to Abdall¯h b. Aa a a 1578 mir’s aid. Information on the urban topography of N¯ ap¯r will clarify ısh¯ u
folio 60–61. was “for 700,000 dirhams, which amount[ed] to 500,000 mithq¯ls of silver, together with a other things.” N¯ ap¯r¯ 1965, folio 61. ısh¯ u ı 1578 “[After conquering F¯rs] Abdall¯h [b. Amir] set out for Khur¯s¯n. When . . . he reached N¯ ¯ a a aa ısh¯p¯r, there was a ruler (malik) there called Asw¯r [sic]. Abdall¯h pillaged the village . . . and a u a a started a war with the people of the city. He killed whomever he found. His affair with the people of N¯ ap¯r took up a long time. Meanwhile Kan¯dbak [i.e., the Kan¯rang], who was the ruler ısh¯ u a a (am¯r) of Tus, wrote a letter to Abdall¯h and asked for safe-conduct from him, provided that if ı a .¯ he granted him amnesty he would come to his service and aid him in conquering N¯ ap¯r. Abısh¯ u dall¯h agreed and gave him safe conduct. Kan¯dbak came to Abdall¯h with a well-equipped army. a a a Abdall¯h treated him kindly and gave him and the elite of his army robes of honor. He [then] set a out for war with N¯ ap¯r and fought valiantly. The two sides fought heavily. Abdall¯h promised ısh¯ u a that he would not leave N¯ ap¯r until he had either conquered the city or had died in the process. ısh¯ u When Asw¯r heard of Abdall¯h’s pledge, he sent an envoy to the latter and asked for safe conduct, a a provided that if Abdall¯h granted him amnesty, he would open all the gates of the city for . . . [the a Arab army to enter]. He [ Abdall¯h] agreed and pardoned him [Asw¯r]. The two sides then made a a up the stipulations of the agreement. The next day at sun-rise Asw¯r opened the gate of the city a
1577 This 1576 N¯ ap¯ r¯ 1965, ısh¯ u ı

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the identity of these rebellious leaders, Burz¯ Sh¯h and Asw¯r, who on the eve ın a a of the conquest of Khur¯s¯n contested the governorship of Khur¯s¯n with the aa aa Kan¯rang¯ an family. a ıy¯ ¯ We recall that according to N¯ ap¯r¯ the armies of Abdall¯h b. Amir enısh¯ u ı, a countered the “fractious people of N¯ ap¯r” near the two gates of Gurg¯n and ısh¯ u a F¯rs.1579 Now, Maqdis¯ enumerating the gates of N¯ ap¯r, mentions the gate a ı, ısh¯ u of Asw¯r K¯r¯ next to the gate of F¯rs.1580 He also mentions, enumerating this a a ın a time the qan¯ts (underground channels) of Khur¯s¯n, a certain Saw¯r K¯r¯ 1581 a aa a a ız. Instead of the reading k¯r¯z, translated as qan¯t, de Goeje proposes the reading aı a k¯rin.1582 There existed in Maqdis¯ time, in other words, a gate, and possibly a a ı’s qan¯t, called Saw¯r or Asw¯r. Now asw¯r could be in fact an Arabic plural for a a a a the Persian word saw¯r (cavalry). The more common Arabic plural, however, a is as¯wira.1583 The gate or qan¯t of Asw¯r or Saw¯r, therefore, was in all proba a a a ability simply the gate or qan¯t next to which a section of the army was settled a in N¯ ap¯r. There is, however, an added signiﬁcance to this information. For ısh¯ u the gate of Asw¯r was not simply named after any member of the as¯wira, but a a after a K¯rin. We also recall that a second reading by de Goeje gives the name a of a qan¯t as Saw¯r K¯rin. We have by now become quite familiar with the a a a Parthian dynastic families of Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n, among whom the K¯aa a a . rin.1584 Barz¯n J¯h (Burz¯ Sh¯h) of our previous narrative, therefore, was in all a a ın a probability a descendant of the K¯rinid Sukhr¯. It is apt to brieﬂy recapitulate a a the history of the K¯rins in Khur¯s¯n, for it becomes extremely pertinent to a aa what was transpiring in this region on the eve of the conquest. We recall that Khusrow I had regretted his father’s treatment of the K¯rins a and installed them as sp¯hbeds over Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n), a aa a u aa . the domains traditionally belonging to the Ispahbudh¯n family.1585 The K¯a a rins, who retained their sp¯hbed¯ of Khur¯s¯n during Hormozd IV’s reign, were a ı aa demoted after Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion by Khusrow II, who appointed in a u ın’s
and Abdall¯h entered [the city] with the Muslim army . . . and started pillaging and looting the a city. That day they were killing and looting until night time. Kan¯dbak, the ruler of Tus, came a .¯ to Abdall¯h and said: ‘O am¯ once you have been victorious and triumphant forgiveness is a a ır, higher [virtue] than revenge and retribution.’ Abdall¯h accepted the intercession of the Kan¯dbak a a and gave amnesty to the people of the city and ordered the army to stop pillaging. He [ Abdall¯h, a then] made Kan¯dbak the governor (am¯r) of N¯ ap¯r.” Kuf¯ Ab¯ Muhammad Ahmad b. A tham, a ı ısh¯ u ı, u . . al-Fut¯h, Beirut, 1986 (Kuf¯ 1986), vol I, pp. 338–339, Kuf¯ 1921, pp. 115–116. u. ı ı 1579 N¯ ap¯ r¯ 1965, folio 60–61. ısh¯ u ı 1580 Maqdis¯ Shams al-D¯ Ahsan al-Taq¯s¯m f¯ Ma rifat al- Aq¯l¯m, Leiden, 1877, edited by M.J. de ı, ın, . aı ı aı Goeje (Maqdis¯ 1877), p. 316. ı 1581 Maqdis¯ 1877, p. 329. ı 1582 Maqdis¯ 1877, p. 329. ı 1583 As¯wira is “the plural of the Pahlavi [word] asv¯r¯n or asv¯ragh¯n.” Christensen 1944, p. 265. a aa a a As¯wira also denotes one of the titles of the ofﬁcers of the army. In hierarchical order Ya q¯b¯ cites: a u ı sp¯hbed (the governor), f¯d¯sb¯n (p¯dh¯sp¯n), marzb¯n, shahr¯j (shahrig, shahrab, ruler of a canton), a a u a a u a a ı and ﬁnally the as¯wira. Ya q¯bi 1969, vol. 1, p. 203, Ya q¯bi 1983, pp. 202–203. For the as¯wira, a u u a see also Zakeri 1995. 1584 See §2.5.6. For Tabarist¯n, this will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 4, especially §4.2. a . 1585 See §2.5.6.

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their stead the Ispahbudh¯n Vist¯hm as the sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n.1586 a a a u aa As we shall see the, T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n conﬁrms the decline of the K¯rin’s aı a a . power in Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n during this period.1587 This was followed aa a . by the revolt of Vist¯hm through which the Ispahbudh¯n family was able to a a reestablish their authority not only over their traditional homelands, the land of Parthava, but also over Tabarist¯n—their domains probably covering at this a . point not only the said regions, but also Azarb¯yj¯n—for a period of close to a a a decade.1588 The secessionist movement of the Ispahbudh¯n, however, was a ended by the Armenian dynast, Smbat Bagratuni, who was delegated with this task by Khusrow II.1589 After Smbat’s tenure in Khur¯s¯n,1590 the situation in aa the region became, once again, very unsettled. In this post-Bagratuni situation, Farrukh Hormozd and his sons, Rustam and Farrukhz¯d, were able to reestaba lish their control in their dynastic homeland of Khur¯s¯n, while maintaining aa control over Azarb¯yj¯n, which situation explains the confusion of the sources a a in referring alternatively to Farrukhz¯d and Rustam as the sp¯hbeds of Azarb¯ya a a j¯n or Khur¯s¯n.1591 The K¯rins, meanwhile, must have taken advantage of this a aa a post-Bagratuni situation to reclaim some territory and authority in Khur¯s¯n. aa This, then, was the K¯rin’s position on the eve of the Arab conquest of Khur¯a a s¯n. They were bent on preserving their authority in Khur¯s¯n, and Tabarist¯n, a aa a . even more so since, through the machinations of D¯ ar in the wake of the defeat ın¯ at the battle of Nih¯vand, they had lost their control over Nih¯vand.1592 a a In view of Farrukhz¯d’s mutiny, the complicity of the Ispahbudh¯n and a a Kan¯rang¯ an with the Arabs, and their own defeat at the battle of Nih¯vand, a ıy¯ a the K¯rins’ antagonism toward the foreign invaders must have been great. In a fact, during the conquest period and for centuries afterwards, the K¯rins maina tained a strong anti-Arab stance.1593 What transpired in Khur¯s¯n on the eve of aa the conquests, in other words, was analogous to what transpired in Rayy and its adjacent territories, and somewhat similar to what transpired in Azarb¯yj¯n, as a a we shall see: one Parthian dynastic family threw in its lot with the conquering Arab armies, in opposition to an age-old Parthian rival in the region.1594 With the Sasanians out of the picture, there remained the inter-Parthian rivalry. Like the Sasanians before them, the Arabs were quick to turn this situation to their own advantage. It is in this context, therefore, that the complicity of the Kan¯a rang with the Arabs against the K¯rins in Khur¯s¯n, and that of Farrukhz¯d a aa a against the Mihr¯ns of Rayy and Tabarist¯n, makes sense. Without a doubt, a a .

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1587 See

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page 107ff. §4.2. 1588 See §2.7.1. 1589 See §2.7.2. 1590 See page 138ff. 1591 See our discussion on page 188ff. 1592 See page 241ff. 1593 One example is the revolt of the K¯rinid Sunb¯d during the early Abb¯sid period, which we a a a will discuss in §6.4 below. 1594 See §3.4.8 below.

1586 See

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the fractious people of N¯sh¯p¯r under the leadership of Burz¯ Sh¯h or Asw¯r ı a u ın a a were none other than the K¯rins taking a vigorous stand against the incoming a foreign power in order to protect their interests in the region.1595 The sp¯hbed a seals which we have now discovered testify to the K¯rins’ substantial control a and presence in the region. How extensive, however, was the control of the Kan¯rang¯ an over Khur¯s¯n at this tumultuous juncture of the region’s hisa ıy¯ aa tory? Or, turning the question around, how much territory were the K¯rins a and the Kan¯rang¯ an competing for? a ıy¯ Most of our sources agree that the Kan¯rang was in control of Tus and parts a .¯ of N¯ ap¯r, but that his dominion stopped somewhere to the east of N¯ aısh¯ u ısh¯ p¯r. In none of the sources is there any suggestion of the involvement of the u Kan¯rang¯ an in the occupation of other major cities in Khur¯s¯n. Whether a ıy¯ aa conquered by peace (sulhan), or through war (anwatan), every other city to . . the west of the Oxus, came to terms with the Arabs independently. Only Tus .¯ and the rest of Abarshahr remained under the control of the Kan¯rang. This a information is conﬁrmed by Tabar¯ who gives us the precise delimitation of the ı, . ¯ territory under the control of the Kan¯rang¯ an. “[When Abdall¯h b. Amir] a ıy¯ a . . . reached in front of the city [N¯ ap¯r] . . . he conquered half of it with war. ısh¯ u The other half was under the control of a kan¯r, together with one half of Nis¯ a a and Tus.”1596 These then were the limits of the jurisdiction of the Kan¯rang¯ a ı.¯ y¯n family over Khur¯s¯n on the eve of the conquest. What of the relationship a aa between the Kan¯rang¯ an and Farrukh Hormozd and his sons, Rustam and a ıy¯ Farrukhz¯d, however? Isfaz¯r¯ provides us with an answer. a aı The Ispahbudh¯n and the Kan¯rang¯y¯n a a ı a ısh¯ u According to Isfaz¯r¯ when the Kan¯rang made peace for Tus and N¯ ap¯r a ı, a .¯ ¯ with Abdall¯h b. Amir, he informed the latter that among “all of the P¯rs¯ a a ıs, after the house of Kisr¯ and Yazdgird III, there was no one [with the same a status] as me (dar jumlih-i P¯rs¯y¯n ba d az ahl-i bayt-i Kisr¯ va Yazdjird m¯nanda ı a a a i man h¯ch kas n¯st).” The veracity of his claim, as well as the afﬁnity of his ı ı house and his policies with the family of Farrukhz¯d, comes across in the rest a of the narrative. While the Parthian Kan¯rang was highlighting his illustrious a ¯ pedigree for Abdall¯h b. Amir, “Farrukhz¯d, who was the minister of Yazdgird a a III . . . reached there. Kan¯z went to welcome Farrukhz¯d. When he saw Fara a rukhz¯d, he threw himself unto the ground from his horse and proceeded in a ¯ front of the [latter’s] stirrup until [the reached] Abdall¯h b. Amir.” Witnessing a the Kan¯rang’s expressions of reverence in front of Farrukhz¯d, Abdall¯h was a a a
1595 Although Barz¯n J¯h (Burz¯ Sh¯h) and Asw¯r were probably both K¯rin dynasts, we can at a a ın a a a present not ascertain whether they are in fact one and the same person. 1596 Tabar¯ narrative, incidentally, conﬁrms our reading of Ma mar¯ text (see footnote 1571). For ı’s ı’s . ¯ according to Tabar¯ when Abdall¯h b. Amir “made peace with the kan¯r . . . [the latter] gave him ı, a a . ¯ u a ı, his son, Ab¯ Silt b. Kan¯r¯ and the son of his brother Salim as hostages . . . Ibn Amir took the two sons of the Kan¯r¯ and gave them to Nu m¯n b. Afgham Nasr¯ who freed them, the implicit aı a . ı,” assumption here being that these two ﬁgures of the family, at least, converted and were manumitted. Nöldeke 1979, pp. 2156–2157, de Goeje, 2886.

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perplexed: “Have you not said that among all of the Persians there is none such as I,” he asked. The Kan¯rang clariﬁed: This indeed was the case, but it applied a to all other noble dynasts besides “Farrukhz¯d, whose status was higher and a whose lineage more ancient than mine.”1597 On the eve of the Arab conquests, the Kan¯rang and Farrukhz¯d were in fact coordinating their policies. When a a Farrukhz¯d mutinied and left Yazdgird III to his follies with M¯h¯y and the a a u Turks in the east, he headed back west. His route to Rayy naturally took him through Khur¯s¯n and through the center of the Kan¯rang¯ an’s abode in Tus. aa a ıy¯ .¯ It is quite probable even that the two agnatic dynasties had gentilitial afﬁliation.1598 For a number of centuries, the Kan¯rang¯ an had maintained a lofty a ıy¯ position in Khur¯s¯n, after all. The Ispahbudh¯n traced their heritage to this aa a same region, and for a long period, as the sp¯hbeds of the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n, they a u aa were the Kan¯rang¯ ans’ overlords. And more often than not, their policies a ıy¯ against or on behalf of the Sasanian kings, coincided. Like the Ispahbudh¯n, a the Kan¯rang¯ an had sued for peace, because the Arabs assured them that they a ıy¯ only meant to go beyond their territories, to those region wherein resided different peoples: “they [i.e., the Arabs] . . . were not coveting the crowns (deyh¯ms) ı of Parthian kings.” Their intent was what they had promised Rustam: to go to the lands beyond Iran, where they could ﬁnd the sources of the trade. The K¯rinid insurrection a The peace agreements of the Ispahbudh¯n and the Kan¯rang¯ an with the Arab a a ıy¯ armies did not sit well with the K¯rins. Not only did the K¯rins make a staunch a a stand against the encroaching Arabs—a defensive posture that called for the collaboration of the Kan¯rang¯ an with the Arabs—but there is ample evidence a ıy¯ that the dynastic struggle between the two Parthian families continued long after the Arab conquest of their territories. There is no doubt either that the defeat of the K¯rins in the course of the conquest of Khur¯s¯n, did not lead a aa to their acquiescence to the nominal lordship of the Arabs over their territories. For as Khal¯ b. Khayy¯t informs us, shortly after the conquest of Tus ıfat a. .¯ and N¯ ap¯r by the Arab armies, the K¯rins revolted sometime in 33 AH/654 ısh¯ u a CE .1599 It is said—perhaps with some exaggeration—that a force of 40,000 gathered around them. Signiﬁcantly, the K¯rins led this revolt in B¯dgh¯ and Her¯t. a a ıs a We recall the tradition contained in the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n that Khusrow I had aı a . given parts of Z¯bulist¯n to Zarmihr, the eldest of the nine sons of the K¯rinid a a a Sukhr¯.1600 The connection of the K¯rins to Z¯bulist¯n is also maintained in a a a a other traditions, except that the son is called D¯dburz¯ and the king Bahr¯m a ın a

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1597 Isfaz¯r¯ Mu¯ al-D¯ Rowd¯t al-Jann¯t f¯ Ows¯f Mad¯nat al-Har¯t, Tehran, 1959, edited by ı a a ı, ın ın, a ı .a .a aı Seyyed Muhammad Kazim Imam (Isfaz¯r¯ 1959), pp. 248–249. 1598 This we cannot establish in reference to concrete information. 1599 Khayy¯t 1977, p. 167. a. 1600 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151. See §2.5.6. ıy¯

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V G¯r.1601 While the precise details of the K¯rins’ association with Z¯bulist¯n u a a a subsequent to Khusrow I’s reforms must be subjected to further investigation, there is no doubt that shortly after the Arab conquest of Khur¯s¯n, a K¯rinid aa a revolt did in fact transpire in the east. The K¯rins’ rebellion was put down, and a the Parthian dynasts were defeated by the Arab forces led by Abdall¯h b. Kh¯a a zim Sul¯m¯ K¯rin himself was ostensibly killed.1602 This, however, is not the a ı. a last we will hear of the K¯rins, nor of their rivalry with the Ispahbudh¯n.1603 a a One thing is certain: the Arab conquest of Khur¯s¯n further weakened the aa Parthian K¯rin family. a 3.4.8 The conquest of Azarb¯yj¯n a a

To conclude our chapter on the Arab conquests, we must brieﬂy discuss the events transpiring in Azarb¯yj¯n. Before we proceed, we must recall that Azara a b¯yj¯n had also come under the control of the Ispahbudh¯n: both Farrukh a a a Hormozd and Rustam, for example, are called the governors of the region in our sources. When Bukayr b. Abdall¯h set out toward Azarb¯yj¯n, therefore, a a a one of the ﬁrst kings (mul¯k) of the region to come forward to him was the u Ispahbudh¯n Isfand¯ ar, who had participated in the battle of W¯j R¯dh and, a ıy¯ a u after being defeated, had ﬂed.1604 When Isfand¯ ar fell captive to Bukayr, he ıy¯ asked the latter: “which would you rather have, to conquer the region through war or through peace?” He then suggested that if Bukayr intended to conquer the territory through peace, his only option would be keeping him, Isfand¯ ar, ıy¯ alive, for “if you [were to] kill me all of Azarb¯yj¯n [will] rise in avenging my a a blood, and will wage war against you.”1605 He further pointed out that if Bukayr intended to “make no peace treaty involving the people of Azerbaijan, nor join [them], they . . . will disperse into the surrounding Caucasus mountains and those of Asia Minor . . . Those who can fortify themselves [there] will [then] do so for some time.”1606 Having considered the situation, Bukayr subsequently followed Isfand¯ ar’s advice and made peace with the latter for all those regions in Azarb¯yj¯n ıy¯ a a over which he had control. Tabar¯ calls Isfand¯ ar the son of al-Farrukhz¯r, that ı ıy¯ a . is to say, Farrukhz¯d.1607 This, too, explains his presence at the battle of W¯j a a R¯dh alongside Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n, that is to say, his father.1608 u ınab¯ u a
1601 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, p. 387, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2196. This, probably, is yet another instance ı ı of the use of the Ctesian method in Ferdows¯ sources, in this case, probably through K¯rinid ı’s a patronage. 1602 Khayy¯t 1977, p. 167. a. 1603 See §4.2. 1604 See page 248ff. 1605 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 335. ı 1606 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 32, de Goeje, 2660. ı . 1607 Sayf calls him the brother of Rustam, in all probability another confusion replete in the sources. For, as we have seen, the two most important sons of Farrukh Hormozd of whom we are aware were Rustam and Farrukhz¯d. Whether Isfand¯ ar was a son of Farrukhz¯d or his brother, however, a ıy¯ a does not make any difference to the germ of our discussion, for he was in any case an Ispahbudh¯n. a Tabar¯ 1994, p. 21, n. 115. ı . 1608 See page 248ff.

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According to our sources, Farrukhz¯d had another son, called Bahr¯m b. a a Farrukhz¯d.1609 In the course of the conquest of Azarb¯yj¯n, however, this a a a Bahr¯m chose not to submit to the Arab forces. Isfand¯ ar remarked to Bukayr, a ıy¯ therefore, that for the conquest of Azarb¯yj¯n to be complete, “all that . . . rea a mained . . . was this one war.”1610 This kind of intra-familial Parthian rivalry, we recall, was not uncommon in Sasanian history. Bahr¯m then engaged the army a of Utbah b. Farqad, but was defeated and was forced to ﬂee. At the ﬂight of his brother Bahr¯m, Isfand¯ ar then exclaimed to Bukayr that “peace . . . [was now] a ıy¯ complete and war ha[d] been brought to an end.”1611 As Tabar¯ notes, however, ı . “peace was only complete[d] after Utbah b. Farqad’s defeat of Bahr¯m.”1612 In a the peace treaty that was subsequently drawn after the conquest of Azarb¯yj¯n, a a there was no mention of a ruler of Azarb¯yj¯n. It was addressed to “the people a a of Azerbaijan, mountains, and plains, borders and frontiers, all people of whatever religion.”1613 Once again, the date given for this document, 18 AH/639–640 CE ,1614 is improbable in view of the progress of the conquest elsewhere on the plateau. Shahrvar¯z, the ruler of Darband a Having conquered all of Azarb¯yj¯n, the Arab army then proceeded to the a a frontier regions of Darband, where for more than a century the Sasanians and the Byzantines had, on and off, cooperated against their mutual enemy the Khazars.1615 In B¯b al-Abw¯b (Darband), we are told, there was a king (malik) a a called Shahr¯ or, in Bal am¯ narrative, Shahr¯ az. Tabar¯ calls him Shahrvar¯z ır ı’s ır¯ . ı a and conﬁrms that he was “a Persian who was in control of this frontier area [i.e., Darband] and whose origins were from the family of Shahrbar¯z, the ruler a who had routed the Israelites and driven them out of al-Sh¯m.” Shahrvar¯z a a (Shahr¯ az), therefore, was a member of the Mihr¯n family. The treaty that ır¯ a Shahrvar¯z drew up with the Arabs, according to Bal am¯ was one that would a ı, thenceforth form the sunna (precedent) for the two frontier regions, Caucasia and Transoxiana. In their treaty with Shahrvar¯z, the Arabs promised that they a would have no armies stationed in the territories under his control and even pledged not to impose any jizya or khar¯j.1616 In exchange Shahrvar¯z promised a a
states that he is an “unidentiﬁed Azerbaijani ruler.” Tabar¯ 1994, p. 32, n. 171. ı . Tabar¯ narrative the name of Isfand¯ ar is ﬁrst given as Jarm¯ ı’s ıy¯ ıdhih b. al-Farrukhz¯dh. a . Tabar¯ 1994, p. 31, de Goeje, 2660. ı . 1611 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 33, de Goeje, 2661. ı . 1612 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 33, de Goeje, 2662. ı . 1613 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 33, de Goeje, 2662. My emphasis. The document also guaranteed that those ı . recruited for military service by the Arabs were “in any one year . . . exempt [from paying] the tribute of that year (wa-man hushira min-hum fi sanatin).” Smith notes that this might “also be . rendered as ‘those who suffer distress’; that is, drought, crop failure, etc.” Tabar¯ 1994, p. 33, ı . n. 172. 1614 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 34, de Goeje, 2662. ı . 1615 It must be noted that, the Khazars seem to have been also used as mercenaries by both sides. For a brief history of this region, see footnote 1725 below. 1616 Bal am¯ 1959, p. 337. ı
1610 In 1609 Smith

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to keep two enemies away from the Arabs: the Khazars and the R¯s. For, as he u argued for Sur¯qah b. Abdalrahm¯n, these two were “the enemies of the whole a a . world, especially the Arabs.”1617 Tabar¯ gives us further insight about the peace arrangements between Shahrı . var¯z and the Arabs. Seeking safe conduct from the Arabs, Shahrvar¯z informed a a them that he was “facing a rabid enemy and different communities who [we]re not of noble descent.” He then advised the Arabs that it was not “ﬁtting for noble and intelligent people to assist such people or to ask their help against those of noble descent and origins . . . [and that] noblemen [had to stick] close to noblemen, wherever they are . . . [and that his] inclinations [we]re the same [as theirs].”1618 He further explained to them that he was “not a Caucasian nor an Armenian, . . . [but the Arabs had] conquered [his] . . . land . . . [and his] community.” Shahrvar¯z then negotiated with the Arabs: “Our tribute to you a will be the military assistance we render you and our carrying out whatever you desire.” He, in turn, asked them that they should not “humiliate [them] . . . with tribute.” Tabar¯ then explains that as a result of the precedence set by the ı . Arab treaty with Shahrvar¯z and his followers, “it became a practice for those a polytheists who made war on the enemy . . . to pay no tribute other than to be ready to ﬁght and were thus exempt from tribute . . . of that particular year.”1619 The peace document that was subsequently drawn was addressed, signiﬁcantly, to Shahrvar¯z, “the inhabitants of Armenia, and the Armenians [in Darband], . . . a [and also to] those coming from distant parts and those who are local and those around them who have joined them.”1620 Tabar¯ then proceeds to enumerate in ı . detail the tremendous wealth, in precious stones, of the region around Darband through the story of the ruby.1621 Signiﬁcantly, in 653 CE, that is, shortly after Farrukhz¯d’s complicitry with a the Arabs, a section of the Armenian nobility who had severed their allegiance from the Byzantines as well as from Farrukhz¯d, also “submitted to the king a of Ishmael. T‘¯odoros . . . with all the Armenian princes made a pact with e death.”1622 And thus, at the expense of the Sasanians, one after another, the Parthian dynastic families of the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n and k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n made u aa u a a a peace with the conquering Arab armies. The Kan¯rang¯ an, the Ispahbudh¯n, a ıy¯ a
p. 336. p. 35, de Goeje, 2664. . 1619 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 35, de Goeje, 2664. Smith notes that the relevant passage would mean that ı . this would be the case “whether they actually ﬁght or not . . . If they stand ready to ﬁght, they are exempt.” Tabar¯ 1994, p. 35, n. 178. ı . 1620 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 36, de Goeje, 2665. ı . 1621 Tabar¯ 1994, pp. 40–42, de Goeje, 2669–2671. Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 339–340. ı ı . 1622 The peace agreements made between the Arabs and the Armenians who had submitted to them are also instructive. According to these the “prince of Ishmael . . . [had told them:] I shall not take tribute from you for a three year period. Then you will pay [tribute] with an oath, as much as you may wish. You will keep in your country 15,000 cavalry, and provide sustenance from your country; and I shall reckon it in the royal tax. I shall not request the cavalry for Syria; but wherever else I command they shall be ready for duty. I shall not send amirs to [your] fortresses, nor an Arab army, neither many, nor even down to a single cavalryman.” Sebeos 1999, pp. 135–136.
1618 Tabar¯ 1994, ı 1617 Bal am¯ 1959, ı

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a son of Farrukhz¯d in Azarb¯yj¯n, and ﬁnally some of the Armenian princes, a a a each made a pact with the enemy. Their motive: retaining de facto control over their territories. The Mihr¯ns and the K¯rins were on the losing end of these a a deals made by their Parthian brethren. The saga of the Parthian dynastic families of the k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n and k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n will not be complete, howu aa u a a a ever, until we examine their continued presence in Tabarist¯n in the subsequent a . centuries. To this, then, we must turn our attention in the next chapter.1623

3.5

Epilogue: repercussions for early Islamic history

Our investigation in this chapter of the early Arab conquest of Iran has been methodologically heretical, to say the least. In order to undertake it, we have totally disregarded its hijra dating. We had a perfectly justiﬁably reason for doing so: the fut¯h and “the history of Iran at the time of the ﬁrst Islamic conquests” u. were primary themes of early Islamic tradition,1624 whereas the hijra, annalistic, and caliphal chronological schemes of the early Arabic historical tradition were secondary themes.1625 These hijra, annalistic, and caliphal motifs for structuring the narratives of early Islamic history were superimposed post facto onto the accounts of the fut¯h narrative, hence the “sharp and irresolvable contradictions u. [which] prevail on not only the dating, but . . . [also] the order, of even the most central events in the history of the expansion of Islam.”1626 Uncritically accepting these secondary themes through which the fut¯h naru. ratives have been structured, has thus far seriously obstructed scholarly efforts at reaching a satisfactory chronology for the early Arab conquest of the Middle East.1627 When faced with Sayf’s improbable chronology, scholarship regularly accused him of appalling anachronisms, but never attempted to solve the quandary posed by these anachronisms.1628 Neither was there success in establishing a logical chronological relationship between the conquest of Iraq and Syria.1629 The adoption of the conventional chronology, even after exhausting
1623 Lack of space and time has forced us to defer a more detailed study of Azarb¯yj¯n and Khur¯s¯n a a aa to a future work. 1624 Noth 1994, p. 39. 1625 See footnote 903. 1626 Noth 1994, p. 41. Hence also the conclusions reached by one of the foremost authorities on the topic who claimed that it “is virtually impossible to accept one sequential or chronological arrangement and to reject another except on grounds that are essentially arbitrary.” Donner 1981, p. 128. 1627 Our point of reference here is primarily the chronology of the fut¯h narratives, for as we know u. many other aspects of early Islamic history have come under serious critical scrutiny. 1628 See Tabar¯ 1993, p. 11, nn. 73 and 74; p. 15, n. 97, among others. ı . 1629 The problematic episode of Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ a ıd’s desert march is only the most ﬂagrant of these problems. Donner 1981, pp. 119–129, especially p. 120 and p. 311, n. 157; Crone 1991a. Sayf has also been accused of having pushed the conquest of Syria two years earlier to the year 13 of hijra (634). In fact, it might be that our newly proposed chronology of the conquest of Iraq will ﬁnally make sense of the utter confusion regarding the conquest of Syria.

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1630 As Noth put it: “Such keen-witted sleuths as de Goeje, Wellhausen, Mednikov, and Caetani were thus unable to resolve this confusion completely, especially since the non-Arabic sources (Greek, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic) can provide further help only at a few points, and are in any case demonstrably dependent upon the emergent Arab–Islamic historical tradition for some of their information.” Noth 1994, p. 42. 1631 Noth 1994, p. 39. 1632 See our methodological procedures elaborated in §3.1.2. 1633 See Table 6.1 on page 468.

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all other foreign traditions at our disposal, therefore, had led to a stalemate in the ﬁeld.1630 The failure in disentangling the puzzles surrounding the Arab conquest of Iran from the disjointed information provided by the fut¯h and other sources, u. however, was hitherto precipitated by the obdurate refusal to integrate the Sasanian dimension of this history into the picture. As our investigations in this chapter demonstrate, the information provided by Sayf on the conditions prevailing in Iran during this period are, in fact, so detailed that it is incredible that scholarship has dismissed them for as long as it did—all the more remarkable, given the paucity of our information for this crucial period of history. Here we hope to have ﬁnally proven that “a great many of the Persian traditions have [such] thoroughly individual traits . . . [that they] cannot be explained away as constructions out of Islamic fut¯h.”1631 We also hope to have shown that the u. majority of traditions concerning the early Arab conquest of Iraq, especially as they are found in the rich accounts of Sayf b. Umar, were probably initially dated relative to the events that were transpiring in Iran during the period 628–632 CE. Proceeding from a heretical methodology, however, has led us not only to equally heretical conclusions, but also to potentially startling implications. As the reader will have noticed, our reconstruction of the chronology of the early conquest of Iraq to the period 628–632 CE, based predominantly on Sasanian chronological indicators and numismatic evidence,1632 will pose an altogether different set of even more serious chronological quandaries. If this reconstruction is valid, it will in fact have revolutionary implications for our understanding of early Islamic history. Once we accept the remarkable synchrony of the accounts of the early conquest of Iraq with the events that transpired in Iran during the period of 628–632,1633 our conventional chronological reckoning of dating the Arab conquests to the caliphate of Ab¯ Bakr (12–13 AH/633–634 CE) u has to be revised. Once we accept this revision, however, we are confronted with a new quandary: If the early conquest of Iraq did, in fact, take place in the years 7–11 AH/628–632 CE, how will this affect our conventional understanding of early Islamic history? What of the death of the Prophet in 11 AH/632 CE ? If the Prophet was alive during the the Arab conquest of Iraq, what of his whereabouts? What was his role in this crucial juncture of history? What of the wars of apostacy (ridda), which are presumed to have taken place after the death of the Prophet, but before any major conquest? If Muhammad was alive, . what was his relationship to Ab¯ Bakr and Umar? u

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It is the nature of scholarship that answering one set of questions often raises new, and perhaps even harder, ones. In our case, these new questions about early Islamic history are of such fundamental importance that satisfactorily answering these will require substantial further research, a feat beyond the scope of present study.1634 What we shall conﬁne ourselves to in this epilogue, therefore, is simply to suggest one possible answer to these new complex sets of queries, in the hope that it will pave the way for further research. We will proceed from the chronology of the early conquest of Iraq as established in this chapter.1635 We have established a new terminus ante quem for the early Arab conquest of Iraq, which started with the battle of Ubullah (traditionally dated to 12 AH): this battle took place sometime around Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s ır¯ a death and Ardash¯ III’s ascension in September 628 CE.1636 The early conquest ır of Iraq, therefore, started sometime in the year 7 AH. We have also established that the the battle of Bridge, dated by Sayf to 13 AH, took place at the end of B¯r¯ndukht’s second regency, just before Yazdgird III’s promotion to kingship ua in June 632 CE, when factionalism between the Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ prevented a ıg the Iranians from following up on their victories.1637 In the hijra calendar, this corresponds to the year 11 AH. Based on these two chronological indicators, the early Arab conquest of Iraq spread over a period of almost four years, from circa September 628 to June 632 CE. The fut¯h narratives telescope these events u. into the two years 12–13 AH/633–634 CE., during the caliphate of Ab¯ Bakr. u This is the most basic observation that we can make on the basis of our analysis. This very basic observation, however, will have potentially revolutionary implications for early Islamic history.1638 Ab¯ Bakr’s caliphate u At a minimum, the implication of this is that Ab¯ Bakr could not have been u the caliph for part of these four years in which the early conquests of Iraq took place.1639 The contention that Ab¯ Bakr was not functioning as caliph, that u is, as the successor to Muhammad during part of this period, however, in turn .
due to time-pressure, the author was forced to put a stop to her enquiry. §3.3.2, and Table 6.1. 1636 See page 190ff. 1637 See §3.3.5, especially 218ff. 1638 Simply manipulating the date of the hijra will not resolve this blatant chronological problem, for four years can never be squeezed into the span of two years, be they lunar or solar! 1639 Of course, conventional Islamic historiography puts his entire caliphate right after this period. However, we might have to reckon with Hamza Isfah¯n¯ contention that B¯r¯ndukht’s regency ua . . a ı’s “took place toward the end of the caliphate of Ab¯ Bakr . . . [when] three months [remained from the u caliphate of ] Ab¯ Bakr.” Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1961, p. 97, Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 1988, p. 115. How helpful this u . . a ı . . a ı ua piece of information is remains to be seen, for it is not clear to which part of B¯r¯ndukht’s regency Hamza Isfah¯n¯ is referring. Based on numismatic evidence and our own reconstruction of her . . a ı reign (see §3.3.4, especially page 208ff), the duration of her combined regencies is 630–632 CE. An additional problem raised by Hamza Isfah¯n¯ remark is that the Prophet would have already been . . a ı’s dead for two years, because the ofﬁce of caliph was installed only after his death, conventionally dated to 11 AH/632 CE.
1635 See 1634 Primarily

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raises the question of whether or not the Prophet was already dead when the early conquest of Iraq began.1640 If the Prophet was indeed alive during at least part of the early conquest of Iraq, however, as the conventional date of 632 for his death would suggest, then what explains his absence from all of the fut¯h u. narratives? As the majority of the topoi in early Islamic narratives were Islamic topoi, which were added to the tradition post facto,1641 as indeed was also the case with the secondary theme of hijra, annalistic, and caliphal arrangement of the tradition, are we then to suppose that the early or later narrators or redactors of the tradition systematically deleted his name from the accounts of the fut¯h u. narratives?1642 Or, alternatively, was he not signiﬁcant enough to be included in these? The precise role of Ab¯ Bakr in these wars, the duration of his caliphate, u and his relationship to the Prophet would then remain thorny questions for future enquiry.1643 The nature of ridda If the Prophet was alive during the early conquest of Iraq, moreover, how are we to perceive the nature of the ridda1644 as wars of apostasy. Since the early conquest of Iraq occurred in the period 628–632 CE while the Prophet was presumably alive, and for at least two years of which Ab¯ Bakr was not caliph, u then the ridda wars will acquire a very different meaning indeed. For, in this case, these wars would have taken place, not as the tradition would have us believe, after the death of the Prophet, as wars of apostasy, but during the lifetime of the Prophet. This would probably mean in turn that, contrary to what the tradition would have us believe, ridda had very little Islamic purport, a view articulated by Ferdows¯ in his epic. Were the ridda a series of wars which were ı Islamicized postfacto, when the early traditionalist superimposed a hijra and a caliphal dating on these? In this scenario, the ridda might still retain their significance as primary theme, but their nature as wars of apostasy would no longer be valid. This, then, would give an added and crucial signiﬁcance to Lecker’s contention that “in many cases the ridda is a misnomer . . . [for] numerous tribes and communities had had no contact whatsoever with the Muslim state [to begin with] or had no formal agreements with it . . . [other tribes] were [simply]
1640 Here we might have to reckon with Theophanes’ contention that Muhammad died in the year . 629/630 CE. Theophanes 1997, pp. 463–464. 1641 Noth 1968. 1642 I am hesitant to accuse them of deliberate forgery, for this in turn brings up the issue of their intent. 1643 Here, for example, we will have to reckon with D¯ ınawar¯ contention that the deposition of ı’s Khusrow II Parv¯ and the accession of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d to the throne took place in the year 9 AH ız ır¯ a (instead of 7 AH/628 CE), and the Prophet died in the same year that Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d ascended the ır¯ a throne and Ab¯ Bakr became caliph. D¯ u ınawar¯ 1960, p. 107, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 116 and p. 120, ı respectively. This chronology leaves the Prophet alive during the years 7–9 AH, the ﬁrst two years of the conquest as we have reconstructed them. D¯ ınawar¯ subsequent assertion that Shahrvar¯z’s ı’s a usurpation of power (Muharram 9 AH/April 630 CE) took place in the year 12 AH, then clearly involves hijra acrobatics. D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 111, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 121. ı 1644 See footnote 900.

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following chieftains who posed as prophets,” while still other tribes, previously under the domination of Medina, merely refused to pay the taxation, “while stating their readiness to continue practicing Islam.”1645 So one possible scenario that we shall put on the table in light of our analysis is that Muhammad . was alive during the early conquest of Iraq; Ab¯ Bakr was not yet caliph, but u simply a general who was leading the Arab armies; and the intention of the Arabs in launching their conquest was mostly not some gh¯z¯ predisposition a ı through which they sought to spread their creed, but simply the recognition that with the Sasanians and the Byzantines exhausted through three decades of warfare, with the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav factional strife debilitating the Sasanians, and with the confusing movement and dislocation of troops all over the region, the time was ripe to pursue their goal of gaining access to trade entrepôts and the riches afforded by these.1646 Many more unsettling questions about early Islamic history might proceed from our analysis. In fact, we may have thoroughly misplaced our emphasis by articulating the few that we did. We also may have opened, inadvertently, Pandora’s box by our analysis. One observation we can make with comfortable certainty: by the time our thesis is either accepted or rejected through future analysis, the ﬁeld will have come out of its stasis and, hopefully, be willing, once again, to tackle the chronology of the early Arab conquest of Iran and the Middle East.

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1645 Lecker, M., ‘Ridda’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007 (Lecker 2007). 1646 See our discussion on page 226ff.

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CHAPTER 4

Dynastic polities of Tabarist¯n a .

he general trajectory of abarist¯ can a T course of Sasanian historyevents in T.reigns ofnP¯ır¯zbe integrated into the from the u (459–484) and Qub¯d a (488–531) onward. We must follow these to the extent that we can reconstruct them, for they set the stage for events that transpire in the region from the onset of the Arab conquest of Iran—when they overshadow the narrative of the ﬂight of the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III, to the east—and are pertinent to the later rebellions of Sunb¯d1647 (137 AH/755 CE) and M¯z¯ ar (224 AH/839 a a ıy¯ CE ) against the Abb¯sid caliphate. Any examination of the history of Tabaa . rist¯n must begin with the region’s rich local historiographical tradition, from a which we have a number of extant local histories, including, most importantly, the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n of Ibn Isfand¯ ar.1648 While these sources have substanaı a ıy¯ . tial and peculiar problems of chronology, are late sources, and clearly bear the marks of editorial reworking at the hands of powerful families, including the Parthian dynastic families, they are crucial in that they give us the broad outlines of the history of the region during the Sasanian period, information that is almost totally absent in universal histories such as that of Tabar¯ Thus, these ı. . sources provide us with a context within which we can investigate the history of the region in the post-conquest centuries, and without which this history remains more or less inexplicable. Signiﬁcantly, some of the information given to us by the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n can be corroborated by Greek sources as well aı a . as numismatic evidence.1649 As a thorough source-critical approach to the local histories of Tabarist¯n is ideally needed before we can critically examine the a . history of Tabarist¯n based on them—a study that is beyond the scope of the a . present work given the conﬁnes of time—it is with extreme caution, and with the aid of a rudimentary source-critical approach, therefore, that we will examine the information contained in these. Even with this handicap, however, it is possible to cull valuable information from these sources, as we shall see.
a discussion of his rebellion, see §6.4. these sources, see Melville, Charles, ‘The Caspian Provinces: A World Apart, Three Local Histories of Mazandaran’, Iranian Studies 33, (2000), pp. 45–89 (Melville 2000). 1649 The contention of those scholars who dismiss these local histories based on their late provenance, therefore, can be put to rest.
1648 On 1647 For

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§4.1: A L - I BAVAND C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

4.1

¯ The Al-i B¯vand a
4.1.1 Kay¯ s u

According to the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, the kingdom of Tabarist¯n had remained aı a a . . in the hands of the family of Jushnasf until the time of Qub¯d (488–531). For a reasons that Ibn Isfand¯ ar attributes to the workings of time, however, this ıy¯ family’s fortunes declined. Qub¯d, therefore, sent his oldest son Kay¯s to Taa u . barist¯n. The timing of this episode of Tabarist¯n’s history would of course a a . depend on the chronology that we choose to adopt about Qub¯d’s age when he a ascended the throne.1650 Kay¯s’ rule in Tabarist¯n is conﬁrmed by other sources. Procopius, for u a . instance, calls him Caoses and follows the events that led Qub¯d and the nobila ity to forgo appointing Kay¯s as Qub¯d’s successor to the Sasanian throne.1651 u a Theophanes, who renders his name Phthasouarsan, reﬂecting Kay¯s’ title as u Padhashkhw¯rgar Shah, that is, the ruler of Tabarist¯n, mentions him under a a . the years 520/521, and 523/524.1652 Theophanes’ account, therefore, points to the second part of Qub¯d’s reign for Kay¯s’ assumption of power in Tabarist¯n. a u a . The arrival of Kay¯s in Tabarist¯n supposedly calmed the turbulent situation in u a . the region. During this period Kay¯s, presumably from his base in Tabarist¯n, u a . also aided Qub¯d in expelling the Turks who had invaded Khur¯s¯n.1653 a aa When Qub¯d died and the Kh¯q¯n of the Turks attacked Iran once again, a a a Khusrow I (531–579) asked for Kay¯s’ aid against him. According to Ibn Isu fand¯ ar, Kay¯s defeated the Kh¯q¯n and set in his stead one of his relatives by ıy¯ u a a the name of H¯shang. He then attacked Ghazna, put his own representative u there, and returned to Tabarist¯n with the khar¯j (taxes) of Turkist¯n and Ina a a . dia as well as a great amount of booty. According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, Kay¯s then ıy¯ u claimed the throne from Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an based on his own seniority.1654 ırv¯ Khusrow I naturally refused, arguing that, among other things, he had the conﬁrmation of the m¯bads in coming to the throne.1655 Kay¯s then prepared an o u
1650 If we accept the tradition that Qub¯d ascended the throne already at a mature age, that is, in a his thirties, then Kay¯s could have been installed in Tabarist¯n during the ﬁrst part of Qub¯d’s u a a . reign, that is sometime in 488–496. The adoption of a young age for Qub¯d’s assumption of the a throne, however, would put the installation of Kay¯s in Tabarist¯n during the second part of his u a . reign, that is in the period between 498 and 531. Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 147; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 89. ıy¯ ı Ibn Isfand¯ ar acknowledges that his information on Kay¯s is an abridged version of that contained ıy¯ u ¯ in Amul¯ Mowl¯n¯ Owliy¯, T¯r¯kh-i R¯y¯n, vol. 64 of Intish¯r¯t-i bony¯d-i farhang-i Ir¯n, Tehran, ı, a a a aı u a aa a a ¯ ¯ 1969, edited by Manuchihr Sotudih (Amul¯ 1969), pp. 37–44. However, the extant version of Aı mul¯ work does not contain any additional information to that provided by Ibn Isfand¯ ar. ı’s ıy¯ 1651 Procopius 1914, xi. 3, p. 83; II, ix. 12, p. 341; I, xxi. 20, p. 201; I, xxi, 22, p. 201. 1652 Theophanes 1997. 1653 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 148; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 92. ıy¯ ı 1654 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 147–148; Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 91–92. ıy¯ ı 1655 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 149. Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 91. According to Procopius, when Qub¯d became ıy¯ ı a seriously ill, fearful that at his death “the Persians would make a serious attempt to disregard some of the things which had been decided upon by him,” he consulted with one of his closest dynastic partners, Mebodes. The latter advised him to leave a written testament appointing his successor.

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C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN §4.1: A L - I BAVAND

army and set out to Ctesiphon in war against his brother. In the process, he was defeated, however.1656 Having captured Kay¯s, Khusrow I assembled the u m¯bads and suggested Kay¯s to ask for penitence, and confess to his sins so that o u he could order his release.1657 Kay¯s responded that he preferred death to the u humiliation of confessing to sins, at which point Khusrow I cursed the fortunes for “forcing him to kill a brother like Kay¯s.” u It is important to highlight the fact that the narrative of Kay¯s in Ibn Isu fand¯ ar’s version actually starts with an account of the appearance of Mazdak ıy¯ at the time of Qub¯d.1658 Ibn Isfand¯ ar juxtaposes Kay¯s’ rebellion next to the a ıy¯ u Mazdakite proclivity of his father and, in doing so, lends credence to the theory that, if not a Mazdakite, Kay¯s probably had a strong dose of Mazdakite symu pathy. Theophanes explicitly states that Kay¯s (Caoses), the Padhashkhw¯rgar u a Shah (Phthasouarsan), was a Manichean, who was used by his father Qub¯d— a by means of a promise that he would be appointed as his successor—to lure the Manicheans into an audience, at which point he proceeded to massacre all of them.1659 If we accept Kay¯s’ Mazdakite sympathies, then we must assume that u the Mazdakite heresy was tolerated in Tabarist¯n during his rule.1660 a . 4.1.2 B¯v a

From the end of Kay¯s’ reign onward, however, Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s rendition of u ıy¯ ¯ the saga of Kay¯s’ family, the Al-i Kay¯s, becomes very problematic. According u u to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, one of the sons of Kay¯s was called Sh¯p¯r. Once Khusrow I ıy¯ u a u had killed Kay¯s, he kept this Sh¯p¯r, presumably as a hostage, in Mad¯ in (Cteu a u a siphon), where he eventually died during Hormozd IV’s (579–590) reign.1661 None of our other sources, however, so far as I can ascertain, provide us with any further information on a son of Kay¯s called Sh¯p¯r. Still according to Ibn u a u Isfand¯ ar, Sh¯p¯r, in turn, had left a son called B¯v. This B¯v allegedly continıy¯ a u a a ued to remain in Ctesiphon. From the very inception of Khusrow II Parv¯ ız’s
“The document was written by Mebodes himself.” When Kay¯s, “conﬁdent by reason of the law, u tried to lay claim to the ofﬁce . . . [, however,] Mebodes stood in his way, asserting that no one ought to assume the royal power by his own initiative but by vote of the Persian notables. As all the a nobility, Mebodes included, came to be in agreement with Qub¯d’s choice of Khusrow I, the latter was chosen over Kay¯s.” Procopius 1914, xxi. 17–22, pp. 200–201. u 1656 Procopius 1914, xxi. 20–26. Also see Tabar¯ 1999, p. 138, n. 356. ı . 1657 Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 91–92; Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 150: ı ıy¯
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1658 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 147–148. Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s depiction of Mazdak’s uprising is quite amıy¯ ıy¯ bivalent. While Mazdak is accused of donning the garb of Ibl¯ (the devil) and leading Qub¯d astray, ıs a when Qub¯d, at the instigation of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, massacred Mazdak and his followers, a ırv¯ the author accuses Qub¯d of committing unspeakable injustices, for which he lost his Divine Glory, a farr. Ibid., pp. 147–148. 1659 Theophanes 1997, pp. 259–260. 1660 In Chapter 5, we will have more to say about the prevalence of Mazdakite (§5.2.7) and Mithraic (see §5.4.1) currents in the quarter of the north. 1661 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 150, 152; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 92. ıy¯ ı

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1663 Mar ash¯ 1966, ı

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§2.7.1 and page 107. page 106. 1666 See §2.7.1.
1665 See

1664 See

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reign, however, B¯v’s power grew substantially. To begin with, during Khusa row II’s reign, when the Sasanian monarch was forced to deal with the extensive rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 1662 B¯v was among those who remained loyal to a u ın, a Khusrow II, followed him to Byzantium, and left a legacy in aiding him against Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ When Khusrow II assumed kingship, furthermore, presuma u ın. ably in remuneration for the services of B¯v, he gave parts of “Azarb¯yj¯n, Iraq, a a a Istakhr as well as Tabarist¯n to B¯v.”1663 Presumably on Khusrow II’s orders, a a .. . B¯v then went to Khur¯s¯n and Khw¯razm where he conquered an extensive a aa a territory. The ﬁgure of B¯v in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative is quite enigmatic, however. a ıy¯ For in none of our other sources do we come across a ﬁgure called B¯v (Bawi a or Boe) with as extensive a power and as central a role as he is given in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative during the reign of Khusrow II Parv¯ Moreover, the ıy¯ ız. domains supposedly allotted to B¯v by the king, namely, Azarb¯yj¯n, Iraq and a a a Istakhr, more or less correspond to the territories under the command of the .. ea a u a ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the west (k¯st-i khwarbar¯n) from Khusrow I’s time onward. Add to this the fact that Tabarist¯n is also said to have been given to B¯v, and a a . the power of B¯v during Khusrow II’s rule becomes tremendous. Yet, no trace a of such an important persona is left in any of our other sources for this juncture of Sasanian history. The only ¯r¯n-sp¯hbeds of the west of whom we have any ea a information, were Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n family,1664 and his father the Asa a parapet, whose name has been rendered by our sources variously as Khurraz¯d, a and signiﬁcantly, Boe, Bawi, or Sh¯p¯r.1665 There is, therefore, something exa u tremely peculiar in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s rendition of the ﬁgure of B¯v, as well as his ıy¯ a presumed father Sh¯p¯r. a u Thus far the ﬁgure of B¯v during the reign of Khusrow II Parv¯ bears an a ız uncanny resemblance to a powerful ﬁgure of late Sasanian history, namely Vist¯hm of the Ispahbudh¯n family. From his involvement in Khusrow II’s ﬂight a a to Byzantium, to his crucial role in aiding Khusrow II against the Parthian dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and ﬁnally to his assumption of a post that was tantaa u ın, mount to the sp¯hbed¯ of the west and part of the east, B¯v’s career mirrors a ı a almost exactly that of Vist¯hm. The wars of B¯v in Khur¯s¯n, moreover, as a a aa well as his control of Tabarist¯n, are also reminiscent of the power that Visa . t¯hm assumed in the east and the north.1666 We have further the curiosity that a the name of B¯v himself, as well as that of his presumed father Sh¯p¯r, are a a u also the two names that have been attributed to Vist¯hm’s father, Asparapet, a the great Parthian and Pahlav aspet of the Ispahbudh¯n family, or possibly his a

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C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN §4.1: A L - I BAVAND

grandfather, Procopius’ Aspebedes. Even the incidental information that the presumed father of B¯v, Sh¯p¯r, died during the rule of Hormozd IV closely a a u parallels the saga of the Ispahbudh¯n family, when the king murdered the father a of Vist¯hm and Vind¯yih, the powerful Asparapet.1667 In the ﬁgure of B¯v, and a u a onto his saga as depicted in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative, therefore, the informaıy¯ tion about three scions of the Ispahbudh¯n family, Boe, Sh¯p¯r, and Vist¯hm, a a u a appears to have been edited and superimposed. In the process, this persona seems then to have taken up the name of the original dynast, Boe, or B¯v. a The conﬂation of the sagas of Ispahbudh¯n dynasts in the ﬁgure of B¯v, a a however, does not end here in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative. For the relationships ıy¯ that B¯v came to establish with the ephemeral kings and queens who followed a Khusrow II on the throne, form a curious parallel to the story of Farrukh Hormozd as well as Farrukhz¯d, two further Parthian dynasts of the Ispahbudh¯n a a family. In Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative, during the short rule of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d ıy¯ ır¯ a (628), for example, the king reportedly usurped the properties and fortunes of B¯v in Ctesiphon and seized B¯v himself,1668 putting him under arrest in Isa a . takhr. When Azarm¯ ıdukht ascended the throne (630–631), however, the elite . advised her to recall B¯v from Istakhr to take control of the army. B¯v, however, a a .. refused, arguing that only the weak of nature agree to serve under a woman. Refusing Azarm¯ ıdukht’s invitation to be the general commander of her army, B¯v a retired to a ﬁre-temple for a life of prayers.1669 Here, we clearly have a replica of the story of Azarm¯ ıdukht and Farrukh Hormozd, in which Farrukh Hormozd refused to acknowledge the suzerainty of Azarm¯ ıdukht, the candidate of the P¯rs¯ and the Mihr¯n factions.1670 a ıg a A hero unveiled, once more What increases our suspicion about Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s purported genealogy of ıy¯ ¯ the Al-i Kay¯s is the saga that the author gives of B¯v’s activities in Tabarisu a . t¯n, at the end of Yazdgird III’s rule and the inception of the Arab conquest. a For here, there is little doubt that the ﬁgure of B¯v is assuming the activities a of, this time, Farrukhz¯d, the son of Farrukh Hormozd. At the onset of the a Arab conquests and after the battle of Q¯disiya, the last Sasanian king, “the a powerful [sic] Yazdgird III,” according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, recalled B¯v from Isıy¯ a . takhr, and restored (radd) to him all his property. That this could not have been . possibly the case, considering Yazdgird III’s young age and powerlessness, is clear from Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s subsequent remarks. Yazdgird III was in fact forced ıy¯ to recall B¯v, for “on account of the enmity of the Arabs, [the king] could not a leave [B¯v] out of his sight.”1671 This replicates the power of Farrukhz¯d, and a a
pages 105ff, especially page 106. is not clear from where! 1669 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 152–153; Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 92–93. ıy¯ ı 1670 See §3.3.3. 1671 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 153: ıy¯
1668 It
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§4.1: A L - I BAVAND C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

Yazdgird III’s reliance on this power for his protection from the pursuing Arab armies. In all the halting places of Yazdgird III, Ibn Isfand¯ ar narrates, the ıy¯ king was forced to be in the company of B¯v.1672 Here then we are given a a potentially very signiﬁcant, but not quite clear piece of information. In Taba. rist¯n, Ibn Isfand¯ ar informs us, “Yazdgird III recalled G¯vb¯rih [i.e., the Cow a ıy¯ a a Devotee,1673 J¯ J¯ ansh¯h] with whom we shall deal shortly,1674 and took over ıl-i ıl¯ a all the region.”1675 The further saga of Farrukhz¯d and Yazdgird III is then a continued in the presumed relationship of B¯v and the king. a According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, when the army of Islam was victorious against ıy¯ Yazdgird III, and the king, in ﬂight, went to Rayy, B¯v accompanied the last a Sasanian king. Signiﬁcantly, from Rayy, B¯v got permission from the king to a go through Tabarist¯n in order to pray at the ﬁre-temple that his (putative) a . ancestor, Kay¯s, had built in the region, and to join the king later in Guru g¯n.1676 Curiously but expectedly, B¯v’s stay in Tabarist¯n was prolonged.1677 a a a . When the duration of B¯v’s sojourn was extended, he heard the news of the a betrayal of M¯h¯y-i S¯r¯ and the murder of Yazdgird III.1678 In summary, all a u uı the actions attributed to B¯v by Ibn Isfand¯ ar during Yazdgird III’s reign more a ıy¯ or less replicate those undertaken by Farrukhz¯d: he accompanied Yazdgird a III in his ﬂight from Rayy to the east,1679 then mutinied against him—one of the reasons of which was Yazdgird III’s refusal to go to Tabarist¯n—and parted a . company from him.1680 What is most curious, however, is not only that in the career of B¯v we a ﬁnd conﬂated those of ﬁve generations of Ispahbudh¯n dynasts, namely Boe (Asa pebedes?), Sh¯p¯r (Asparapet), Vist¯hm, Farrukh Hormozd, and Farrukhz¯d, a u a a which, incidentally, reinforces our argument that they do indeed belong to the same family, but also the remarkable fact that as the towering ﬁgure of Farrukhz¯d mysteriously disappears from the scene somewhere in the quarter of a ¯ the east, after abandoning Yazdgird III, so, too, does the progenitor of the Al-i B¯vand mysteriously appear in that same region. Indeed, after hearing of the a
1672 Ibn

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Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 155; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 93. ıy¯ ı page 257ff. 1680 See §3.4.6.
1679 See

1678 Ibn

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the importance of this epithet, see page 377. §4.3.3. 1675 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 153: ıy¯

1673 For

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C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN §4.1: A L - I BAVAND

death of Yazdgird III, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, B¯v “shaved his hair” and ıy¯ a took up a monastic life at the ﬁre temple in K¯s¯n [i.e., Q¯ch¯n]. Recall that ua u a Sebeos likewise maintains that after his mutiny, Farrukhz¯d fortiﬁed himself a someplace. Ibn Isfand¯ ar then brieﬂy describes the conditions in Khur¯s¯n ıy¯ aa and Tabarist¯n in the post-Bagratuni period just before the Arab conquest: the a . Turks had wreaked havoc in most of Tabarist¯n and Khur¯s¯n, and “the armies a aa . of Islam, under the command of Im¯m Hasan b. Al¯ and Abdall¯h b. Umar a . ı a ¯ . . . and Hudhayfah,” had come to Amul.1681 The population of Tabarist¯n a . . therefore, desperate from hardship and adversity, decided that they must ﬁnd a great king under whose command they could all gather. None, they reckoned, could take up this position except B¯v.1682 The people of Tabarist¯n, therefore, a a . invited B¯v to become their king. The latter happily accepted their invitation, a provided that they agreed that his rule would be absolute.1683 When they did, B¯v left his monastic life and “cleared the domains of the enemies.”1684 Accorda ing to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, the army that attempted the ﬁrst unsuccessful conquest ıy¯ ¯ of Tabarist¯n in 30 AH/650–651 CE was that of Sa d b. As. Ibn Isfand¯ ar does a ıy¯ . . not specify, however, how B¯v received this army or how he cleared the region a of all the enemies. Once B¯v had secured the region, he ruled for 15 years, after a which he was killed by a certain Val¯sh, a ﬁgure who subsequently assumed a the control of Tabarist¯n for another eight years (circa 665–674). After B¯v’s a a . death, presumably around 665, when Tabarist¯n was again in disarray, his son a . Suhr¯b carved out a small kingdom in K¯l¯, where he maintained the family’s a ua independence for many centuries.1685 We note here that the nisba of Z¯ ı ınab¯ Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n in Tabar¯ narrative was also said to be Q¯lah, i.e., K¯l¯.1686 u a ı’s u ua . All our evidence suggests that the ﬁgure named B¯v in this part of the story a is none other than Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n, who in turn is none other than ınab¯ u a Farrukhz¯d, the son of Farrukh Hormozd, the dynast from the Ispahbudh¯n a a family.1687 As Farrukhz¯d mysteriously disappeared from the scene, so too a B¯v in one tradition, the Tabarist¯n¯ tradition, and Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n a a ı ınab¯ u a . in another tradition, the Islamic fut¯h narratives, mysteriously appeared on u. the scene. The disappearance of one and the appearance of the others, moreover, coincided exactly with one and the same juncture of history, that is to say, the point when Farrukhz¯d abandoned Yazdgird III and, as Z¯ ı Ab¯ a ınab¯ u ’l-Farrukh¯n, aided the Arabs in the conquest of Rayy and made peace with a the conquering Arab army. All our evidence therefore points to the fact that the ancestry of the family of B¯v, and in fact the very name of this dynast, a

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is in all probability part of some Sh¯ ite popular histories circulating in the region. ı Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 155; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 93. ıy¯ ı 1683 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 155; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 93. ıy¯ ı 1684 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 155; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 93. ıy¯ ı 1685 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 155. For more on Suhr¯b, see page 307 below. ıy¯ a 1686 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 26, de Goeje, 2655. See page 250ff. ı . 1687 For a discussion of the Ispahbudh¯n, see §3.3.1; for their family tree, see page 471; for Z¯ a ınab¯ ı’s duplicity in the conquest of Rayy, see page 250ff; for his identity, see page 264ff.
1682 Ibn

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has undergone substantial editorial transformation. Whether on purpose or inadvertently, somewhere along the line, the family of B¯v is taken to be the a progeny of the Sasanian Kay¯s. In view of the familial connection of the Isu pahbudh¯n with the Sasanians there is even a possibility that through marriage a such a connection actually did exist. Perhaps it is not incidental that the preva¯ lent dynastic family name of this family later becomes the Al-i B¯vand or the a ¯ Kay¯s. By Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s account, B¯v himB¯vand¯ rather than the Al-i a ıds, u ıy¯ a self was around throughout the reigns of Khusrow II (591–628) and Yazdgird III (632–651). Considering all the chivalry that he is supposed to have shown during Khusrow II’s rule, if one were to hypothetically assume that he was at least 18 years of age at the inception of the king’s rule (whence born around 573), then by the time he was murdered by Val¯sh after 15 years of rule in Tabarist¯n a a . (around 665), he was nearly a century old. Such a ripe age is a possibility of course, but all other indications seem to point to the fact that this genealogical tradition was forged. To uncover how B¯v is supposed to have dealt with a the Arabs, we must ﬁrst deal with the fortunes of other dynastic families in Tabarist¯n. a .

4.2

The K¯rins in Tabarist¯n a a .

A second important dynastic power that had come to have a substantial interest in Tabarist¯n, from at least the period of Khusrow I onward, when we can a . trace this,1688 was the K¯rin dynasty. The connection of this family to Tabaa . rist¯n, moreover, at least from this period onward, is contrary to the claim of a some,1689 far from mythical. Ibn Isfand¯ ar follows the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition ıy¯ a a in recounting the fortunes of the K¯rins and their dominion over the monarchy a through the last decades of the ﬁfth century,1690 ending in Qub¯d’s ousting of a the K¯rinid Sukhr¯ with the aid of the Mihr¯ns,1691 and Sukhr¯’s ﬂight, together a a a a ıy¯ with his nine sons, to Tabarist¯n.1692 If Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s rendition of events is a . to be trusted, the departure of the K¯rin family toward Tabarist¯n must have a a . taken place during Qub¯d’s second regency, that is, 498/9–531, at the time that a Kay¯s held power over Tabarist¯n.1693 We recall that according to Ibn Isfand¯ u a ı. y¯r, Khusrow I regretted the treatment that his father had inﬂicted on the K¯a a rins and was keen on retrieving his sons. The K¯rins, hearing about this, came a together with their army clad in green to the aid of the Sasanian king in his

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1689 Rekaya,

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we have seen the power of the K¯rins in the Sasanian realm generally predates this. a ˙a M., ‘K¯rinids’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 2007 (Rekaya 2007). 1690 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151. For the saga of the K¯rins during this period, see §2.4, especially ıy¯ a §2.4.2. 1691 See §2.4.4. 1692 For the conﬂicting information in our sources about Sukhr¯’s ﬁnal destiny, see footnotes 400 a and 582. 1693 Recall that Theophanes mentions Kay¯ s as Padhashkhw¯rgar Shah under the years 520–523 u a CE; see §4.1.1.

1688 As

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war against the Kh¯q¯n.1694 In compensation for their aid, Khusrow I gave the a a control of Z¯bulist¯n to Zarmihr, the eldest son of the late Sukhr¯, and parts a a a of Tabarist¯n to a younger son called K¯rin,1695 who became the ispahbud of a a . Tabarist¯n.1696 For all the problems contained in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s history, the a ıy¯ . chronological scheme that he presents here is in fact quite sound. For we recall that Kay¯s, who had been appointed Padhashkhw¯rgar Shah by his father Quu a b¯d in Tabarist¯n, was in fact murdered by Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an when he a a ırv¯ . came to claim the throne. We are here dealing, therefore, with the period in which Khusrow I initiated his military and administrative reforms of the land. If the ruler of Tabarist¯n, Kay¯s, is killed by Khusrow I at the inception of his a u . reign, and if his putative progenies Sh¯p¯r and B¯v actually belong to Ispahbuda u a h¯n family, it follows that after Kay¯s’ murder in about 531, no one could take a u over the rule from him: there was, in other words, a power vacuum in Tabaris. t¯n. This version of events, needless to say, proceeds from our assumption that a the presumed progenies of Kay¯s, namely Sh¯p¯r and B¯v, actually belong to a u a u a different family. What is most signiﬁcant about Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative on the measures ıy¯ taken by Khusrow I in Tabarist¯n, however, is the fact that he partitioned the a . control of the region such that “he did not give the whole to one person, but divided it.”1697 Who then were the other groups among whom Tabarist¯n was a . divided at the inception of Khusrow I’s reign? We should recall at this point one signiﬁcant fact: As our seals testify, Khusrow I gave the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed¯ of ea a ı the quarter of the north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n) to the Parthian Mihr¯ns.1698 Over u a a a a parts of this region, the Mihr¯ns had ancestral claims at any rate.1699 So having a destroyed his brother Kay¯s and having assigned the Mihr¯ns as the sp¯hbeds u a a of the quarter of the north,1700 Khusrow I then gave, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ıy¯r, the K¯rins the sp¯hbed¯ of Tabarist¯n. However, we know of no such post, a a a ı a . either prior to or after Khusrow I’s reforms. In fact, the very division of the realm into four quarters during Khusrow I’s rule, we recall, was an innovation where the former function of ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed was divided into four.1701 At any ea a given point after Khusrow I’s reforms, therefore, there were supposed to have been only four sp¯hbeds of the Sasanian domains and none of these was called a the sp¯hbed of Tabarist¯n. a a . As we examined in detail in Chapter 2,1702 Khusrow I had in fact given the K¯rins the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed¯ of the quarter of the east (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n)—a region a ea a ı u aa which had originally been the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudh¯n family. a

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Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151; Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 6–7. See pages 113 and 380. ıy¯ ı parts included Vand Om¯ K¯h, Amul, Laf¯r, and K¯h-i K¯rin (Far¯ ıd u ¯ u u a ım). 1696 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 151–152; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 7. ıy¯ ı 1697 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151. ıy¯ 1698 See page 103. 1699 See the discussion in §2.5.3. 1700 For the boundaries of this quarter, see footnote 693; see also footnote 164. 1701 See page 95. 1702 See in particular §2.5.6.
1695 These

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2001a, seal 1b, p. 36. See page 114 and the table on page 470. p. 94, D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, p. 102; Nihayat 1996, p. 380. ı 1705 Gyselen 2001a, seal 1b, p. 36 and seal A, p. 46. See pages 114 and 470. 1706 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, p. 94, D¯ ı ınawar¯ 1967, p. 102; Nihayat 1996, p. 380. For Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ ı a u ın’s revolt, see page 126ff. 1707 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151. ıy¯ 1708 See §4.3.1.
1704 D¯ ınawar¯ 1960, ı

1703 Gyselen

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This is remarkably conﬁrmed by sigillographic evidence, where we have the seal of D¯d-Burz-Mihr (D¯dmihr of the K¯rin family), “the Parthian aspbed, the a a a ea a a ınawar¯ we ı, ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the side of the east.”1703 Both the Nih¯yat and D¯ recall, conﬁrm that the K¯rins were the sp¯hbeds of Khur¯s¯n from the rule of a a aa Khusrow I onward. According to D¯ ınawar¯ in Khur¯s¯n the K¯rins were in ı, aa a charge of “war and peace, collecting taxation and the administration.” Q¯mis u and Gurg¯n were also part of the K¯rins’ governorship.1704 According to both a a D¯ ınawar¯ and the Nih¯yat, moreover, Khusrow I’s son, Hormozd IV, continued ı a to maintain the K¯rins in this position. This assertion of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a a tradition, is likewise corroborated by the second seal of D¯d-Burz-Mihr, which a belongs to the reign of Hormozd IV.1705 In his short term of usurping kingship, even Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ (590–591) conﬁrmed the K¯rins’ status as the sp¯hbeds of a u ın a a the east.1706 So, Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s rendition of events, given in the context of the ıy¯ power of various families over Tabarist¯n, is remarkably valid. a . As the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbeds of the east, therefore, the K¯rins controlled not only ea a a Khur¯s¯n, but also parts of Tabarist¯n, through the reign of Khusrow I and aa a . Hormozd IV. So once Kay¯s was out of the picture, in the wake of Khusu row I’s reforms, when the sp¯hbed¯ of the north was given to the Mihr¯ns and a ı a that of the east to the K¯rins, the Sasanian king did in fact, as Ibn Isfand¯ ar a ıy¯ claims, “divide Tabarist¯n in such a way that he did not give the whole to one a . person, but divided it.”1707 Moreover, another region of the southern Caspian ¯ Sea, G¯ an, came under the rule of yet another dynastic family, the Al-i J¯m¯sp, ıl¯ a a 1708 as we shall see shortly. As part of the land of the Pahlav, however, Khur¯s¯n had prior to this been aa the traditional homeland of the Ispahbudh¯n family. The K¯rins’ claim to the a a sp¯hbed¯ of the quarter of the east, therefore, ﬂew in the face of the more ancient a ı heritage of rule of the Ispahbudh¯n family in these regions. It is, therefore, no a ¯ surprise that it is in the course of his narrative on the Al-i Kay¯s—whom we u postulated to be the adopted progenitors of the Ispahbudh¯n family—that Ibn a Isfand¯ ar goes into a signiﬁcant tangent to detail the saga of the K¯rinid Sukhr¯ ıy¯ a a and the appointment of the family as the rulers in Tabarist¯n by Khusrow I. a . In sum, Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n were contested by the Parthian families of aa a . the Ispahbudh¯n and the K¯rins, while the central and western parts of the a a region, that is to say, Rayy and the regions to the west of it, were the traditional homelands of the Mihr¯ns over which they were given the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed¯ of the a ea a ı north. Thus far the histories of three Parthian dynastic families are intimately connected with the history of Tabarist¯n. a .

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1709 §2.7.1.

page 136ff. 1999, pp. 43–44. 1712 Sebeos 1999, p. 181. See §2.7.2. 1713 Sebeos 1999, p. 50. 1714 Sebeos 1999, p. 52. 1715 Sebeos 1999, p. 53. See page 138ff.
1711 Sebeos

1710 See

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After Khusrow II’s assumption of power, however, when he gained his very throne thanks to the machinations of his uncles Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm, the u a king gave the sp¯hbed¯ of Khur¯s¯n back to the Ispahbudh¯n family and their a ı aa a scion Vist¯hm. The formal power of the K¯rins as the sp¯hbeds of the quarter a a a of the east, therefore, came to an end. Subsequently, as we have seen,1709 the Ispahbudh¯n dynast Vist¯hm led a signiﬁcant rebellion against Khusrow II Para a v¯ when a long stretch of territory from Khur¯s¯n to G¯ an, including the ız, aa ıl¯ territories under the Mihr¯n family, paid allegiance to the Ispahbudh¯n rebel. a a What was the position of the K¯rins during the almost decade long secessionist a revolt of Vist¯hm, however? No deﬁnitive answer can be given to this question a at the moment. In hindsight, the antagonism between the K¯rins and the Isa pahbudh¯n in Khur¯s¯n and parts of Tabarist¯n in subsequent years underlines a aa a . the signiﬁcant fact that the K¯rins’ relationship with the Ispahbudh¯n must a a have been an extremely contentious one, perhaps purposely aggravated by the Sasanian king Khusrow II when he discharged the K¯rins of their ofﬁce of ¯r¯na ea sp¯hbed of the east and promoted the Ispahbudh¯n in their stead. a a The precise fate of the K¯rins in Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n after Vist¯hm’s a aa a a . rebellion and during the turbulent Bagratuni and post-Bagratuni history of the region is not clear either. In 596–602, we recall,1710 Smbat Bagratuni was given the marzpanate of Vrkan, that is Gurg¯n,1711 in order to quell Vist¯hm’s rebela a lion. In this endeavor he was in fact successful: in the midst of Vist¯hm’s prepaa ration for a second major expedition against Khusrow II, the rebel was killed “with reasonable conﬁdence” in 600.1712 Smbat Bagratuni was also sent to Khur¯s¯n on a second expedition from 614 to 616/617.1713 The K¯sh¯ns had asked aa u a for Turkish aid, and a great force of 300,000 had thereafter invaded Khur¯s¯n aa and parts of Tabarist¯n, reaching as far as Rayy. Tangentially we recall that this a . havoc in the east was occurring precisely in the midst of the Sasanian–Byzantine wars of Khusrow II, which were ravaging the western Sasanian domains. It was in a second campaign a year after this that Smbat reorganized his army and attacked “the nation of Kushans and the Hephthalite king,”1714 and, defeating the enemy far into their territory, ﬁnally settled in Marv.1715 In view of the later events and in view of the dynastic and agnatic nature of the power of various Parthian families over their realm, it seems rather certain that while at this juncture of the Sasanian history of the east and the north de facto power might have been taken out of the hands of the K¯rins, and while a the Ispahbudh¯n rebellion had been quashed by Smbat Bagratuni, de jure power a continued to remain in the hands of these families; a situation which, in view

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§4.3: A L - I JAMASP C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

of the simultaneous claims of the K¯rins and the Ispahbudh¯n to the sp¯hbed¯ a a a ı of the east—one presumably recent and one with a long ancestral claim to the region—must have continued to create conﬂict in the territory. Throughout this period turbulence and havoc must have been as much a part of the landscape of the Sasanian domains in the east, as they were in the west during the destructive Sasanian–Byzantine wars of the ﬁrst three decades of the seventh century.1716 While Smbat Bagratuni died around 617 CE, both the continued association of the Bagratunis with the east and the ultimate cooperation of this Armenian Parthian dynastic family with the Ispahbudh¯n family is borne out by the fact a that when the unanimous decision of the factions to depose Khusrow II was reached, and Farrukhz¯d informed Varaztirots‘, the son of Smbat Bagratuni, a of their choice for the Iranian throne, the latter responded that the choice of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d as the king “will be pleasing as well to the Kan¯rang¯ an” in ır¯ a a ıy¯ Khur¯s¯n.1717 aa We can therefore construct the general contours of the history of Khur¯s¯n aa and Tabarist¯n by the end of Khusrow II’s reign and the inception of the faca . tional strife that swallows the Sasanian kingdom with the murder of this king, during the period of 628–632. Through the ﬁrst decades of the seventh century, and in fact from the inception of the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ onward, the a u ın north and the eastern parts of the Sasanian domains were struggling through a havoc in which four Parthian dynastic families, the Mihr¯ns, the K¯rins, the Isa a pahbudh¯n, and the Kan¯rang¯ an1718 were the central players in the ﬁeld. This a a ıy¯ continued to be the situation on the eve of the Arab conquests of the region, when, on the trail of the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III, the Arab armies ﬁnally reached Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n in 650–651. This picture, however, would not aa a . be complete without the introduction of yet another important family on to the scene of Tabarist¯n and Khur¯s¯n. a aa .

4.3

¯ The Al-i J¯m¯sp a a
4.3.1 J¯m¯sp a a

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§2.7.3. 1971, vol. IX, p. 245, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2901. However, the relationship of the ı Bagratuni house with the Ispahbudh¯n family once again deteriorated. Sebeos 1999, p. 92. For the a connection of the Kan¯rang¯ an to the house of Farrukhz¯d, see page 266ff. a ıy¯ a 1718 See page 266ff.
1717 Ferdows¯ ı

1716 See

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One of the fascinating episodes in the history of G¯ an and Tabarist¯n in the ıl¯ a . late antique period is the saga of the Sasanian J¯m¯sp, beginning with the death a a of the Sasanian king P¯ uz in 484. In reconstructing this history Ibn Isfand¯ ar ır¯ ıy¯ provides us with a unique narrative undoubtedly drawn from the local historical traditions and lore in circulation in the region. The signiﬁcance of this history is the fact that it revolves around the person of J¯m¯sp, one of the most a a enigmatic sons of P¯ uz, for whom—except for the short period (497–499) when ır¯ he assumed the crown—we have next to no information in our classical Arabic

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sources. J¯m¯sp seems to have vanished from the pages of history, precisely a a because, he met his fate in Tabarist¯n, the history of which is not incorporated a . in the accounts of the universal histories. J¯m¯sp was put on the throne after a a Qub¯d’s Mazdakite phase with the complicity of the dynastic families.1719 He a remained on the throne for a short period during Qub¯d’s interregnum, that a is from about 496 to 499. Most sources, however, are silent about the events that transpired during his short reign. Neither do we know what happened to J¯m¯sp once Qub¯d came to reclaim his throne.1720 Signiﬁcantly, two sources a a a maintain that Qub¯d had J¯m¯sp expelled.1721 a a a While most sources are silent about J¯m¯sp’s fate, however, Ibn Isfand¯ ar a a ıy¯ provides a wealth of information about this transient king during one of the most important episodes in Sasanian history, the Mazdakite rebellion,1722 connecting J¯m¯sp directly, and signiﬁcantly, with the history of Tabarist¯n. Ibn a a a . Isfand¯ ar’s narrative on J¯m¯sp is introduced under the heading of “on the ıy¯ a a mention of the descendants of J¯m¯sp and the story of G¯vb¯rih.”1723 Accorda a a a ing to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, when Qub¯d is put back on the throne with the consent of ıy¯ a the nobility, J¯m¯sp objected and went to Armenia. From Darband, he then ata a tacked the Khazars and the Slavs (Suql¯b), and conquering parts of these territoa ries, settled in Armenia and married there. J¯m¯sp’s activities during this period a a ﬁt quite well with the international context of the times. The Sasanians, like the Parthians before them, had a long and involved connection with Albania and the rest of the Caucasus.1724 The late ﬁfth century was a period when, due to a number of factors, the predominantly peaceful Perso–Byzantine relations of the past century were becoming increasingly hostile, and would remain so for the next two centuries. One of the central factors shaping the Perso–Byzantine relations during this period was the appearance of new forces on the Eurasian steppes. While the emergence of the Chionites (Kidarites) in the northeast of the Sasanian territories from the 350s, and that of the Huns in the Ukraine on the eastern European territories of the Byzantine empire, had led the two empires to realize that they needed to join forces against nomadic enemies threatening them both, the disastrous defeat of P¯ uz at the hands of the Hephthalites ır¯ and the upheavals that this created in the Sasanian empire led Qub¯d to break a the peaceful relations of the past century by attacking the Byzantine empire,
1719 See

§2.4.3.

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observes that the “fate of Z¯m¯sp . . . is uncertain. Elias of Nisibis alone states that a a a a Kaw¯d had him killed. More probable is the leniency toward his brother attributed to Kaw¯d by the well-informed Agathias, that Z¯m¯sp renounced the throne of his own accord, preferring a life a a a a of safe obscurity, and was pardoned . . . Procopius in his The History of the Wars confuses J¯m¯sb with F¯ uz’s successor Bal¯sh/Blas¯s.” Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 136–137, n. 349, de Goeje, 887. Tha ¯lib¯ ır¯ a e ı a ı . ı a a a and Ferdows¯ conﬁrm that Qub¯d pardoned J¯m¯sp, but have nothing to say about the ultimate fate of the latter. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 590–593, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 381–382, and 384; Ferdows¯ 1971, a ı a ı ı ı vol. VIII, pp. 40–41, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 1739. 1721 Christensen 1944, p. 351. 1722 See §2.4.5. 1723 See page 302 below for the meaning of this epithet. 1724 See page 43.

1720 Bosworth

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probably in order to engage the disruptive feudal forces against a joint enemy abroad. The ﬁrst theater of Qub¯d’s war in 502 was Armenia. By then, the a Huns had amassed in northern Albania (Arr¯n). This was the context in which a J¯m¯sp went, or was exiled to Armenia, where he could have very likely joined a a an Armenian faction in the war arena. And indeed he seemed to have engaged the enemy at Darband, the famous Pass of Chor. Qub¯d in fact is also credited a with rebuilding the Caspian Gates at Darband after 508.1725 There also was a close connection among Armenia, G¯ an, and Tabarist¯n ıl¯ a . in the previous centuries. This connection is highlighted in Khorenats‘i’s account.1726 The Bagratunids’ involvement in Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n in subaa a . duing the rebellion of Vist¯hm gives further evidence of the close involvement a of Armenia in Iranian affairs in general, and in Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n in aa a . particular. As we have seen, the Armenians were also closely involved in the Parthian confederacy that was created in the quarters of the north and the east, and the turmoil that engulfed the region in the wake of the Arab conquest. The Sasanians, moreover, like the Parthian dynasts, had strong familial relationships with the ruling groups within Armenia. Considering the intimate connection of Iran and Armenia throughout Sasanian history, Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s assertion ıy¯ that J¯m¯sp settled in Armenia, therefore, should be reckoned as trustworthy. a a
1725 For a succinct overview of Sasanian relations with the Byzantine Empire in late antiquity and the part played by Armenia therein see Howard–Johnston’s analysis in Sebeos 1999, pp. xi–xxv. Yazdgird II (438–457) constructed an impressive wall at the Caspian Gates at Darband along the 3 to 3.5 kilometer pass of Chor on the western shores of the Caspian Sea in order to prevent the penetration of the Transcaucasian Huns into his realm. The “Armenians and Albanians wrecked the walls in the rebellion of 450,” leading to the occupation of Darband by the Huns during P¯ uz’s ır¯ (459–484) reign. In 464, the latter seems to have received tribute from the Byzantines in exchange for his upkeep of the wall, and the tribute that he was forced to pay to the Hephthalites. Joshua the Stylite 2000, pp. 9–10, n. 37–39 and pp. 82–83, n. 392. At the death of Yazdgird II in 457, the king of Albania was one Vach¯, a nephew of the two sons of Yazdgird II, Hormozd III (457– e 459) and P¯ uz (459–484). Moses Daskhurants‘i maintains that the daughter of Yazdgird II’s sister ır¯ was the mother of Vach¯ whom he had married. Elish¯ 1982, p. 241. The additional information e e ˙ by Moses Daskhurants‘i is cited in Thomson’s note 5, ibid. During the monarchic dispute that engulfed Iran after the death of Yazdgird II, Vach¯, who, according to Elish¯, was a Christian who e e had been forced to convert to Zoroastrianism by Yazdgird II, revolted.˙ Even after the Mihr¯nid a Rah¯m put his protégé P¯ uz in power (see §2.3), Vach¯ did not submit. The rebellion of Vach¯ a ır¯ e e pre-occupied the Sasanians in the Caucasus until 463/464. P¯ uz then asked Vach¯ to send back his ır¯ e sister and niece to Iran “for they were originally magi and you made them Christians.” Elish¯ 1982, e ˙ pp. 242–243. 1726 According to Khorenats‘i, for example, after “the death of the last Arshak [Arsaces I (247– 211 BCE)], king of Persia, our Artash¯s made his homonym, Arshak’s son Artash¯s, king over the e e land of Persia. The inhabitants of the mountain which is called in their own tongue the province of Patizhahar [Padhashkhw¯rgar, i.e., Tabarist¯n], that is, the mountain of E˙ a a lmants‘, did not wish to obey . him, nor did those who dwelt by the sea and those beyond them. Similarly the land of the Caspians for that reason rebelled against our king. Therefore Artash¯s sent Smbat [an Armenian general e from the second century BCE] against them with the entire Armenian army, and the king himself accompanied them for seven days. So Smbat went and subdued them all; he ravaged the land of the Caspians and brought to Armenia more captives than those from Artaz, including their king Zardmanos.” Khorenats i 1978, p. 195. Emphasis added.

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page 133. 1999, pp. 31–36, 38–43, 175–181. 1729 See page 133. 1730 Sebeos 1999, p. 43. 1731 Macler, F., Histoire d’Héraclius, Paris, 1904 (Macler 1904) apud Sebeos 1999, p. 43, n. 268.
1728 Sebeos

1727 See

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Now according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, J¯m¯sp’s son Nars¯ had himself a son by the ıy¯ a a ı name of P¯ uz. This P¯ uz expanded the territories under his family’s rule and ır¯ ır¯ conquered the territory up to and presumably including parts of G¯ an. The ıl¯ control of P¯ uz over G¯ an at this juncture is corroborated by Sebeos. Qub¯d ır¯ ıl¯ a died in 531. If we reckon a similar date for the death of J¯m¯sp, the younger a a brother of Qub¯d, and count around 35 years for each generation, then the a control of P¯ uz over parts of G¯ an can be dated to the late sixth century. It is ır¯ ıl¯ apt to brieﬂy recall the political situation in Armenia at the time. The Byzantines, who had come under serious attack by the Avars and the Slavs, especially in the Balkans, began a policy of actively recruiting the Armenian nobility, partly also to rein in the unruly Armenian feudal nobility residing within the enlarged Armenia now under their control. This policy, presumably using some form of coercion, was pursued for three years, by which time the Armenian nobility seem to have had enough of it. The Persians adopted a different policy, seeking the support of the Armenian nobility with cash incentives. The arrival of a ﬁnancial administrator with a large sum of money triggered, as we have seen, the Vahewuni incident of 594–595 CE, when a group of Armenian nobles rebelled against both the Byzantines and the Persians.1727 But the rebellion disintegrated shortly after being launched, partly on account of the cooperation of the two empires in putting it down. The Armenian faction that at the end of the conﬂict remained in the Persian camp were set up in Isfah¯n . a by Khusrow II Parv¯ around 595.1728 ız, As we have seen, in the midst of Vist¯hm’s rebellion, these Armenian forces a also rebelled against the Persian king and decided to join Vist¯hm’s camp.1729 a But, according to Sebeos, their route to join Vist¯hm took them through G¯ an, a ıl¯ where they were intercepted by the army of one P¯ uz: “In the land of Gelam, ır¯ [i.e., G¯ an] Peroz’s army arrived in pursuit, and put some of them to the sword. ıl¯ [Others are said to have] committed suicide lest they be captured, while [still] others barely escaped and took refuge in the secure land of Gelam.”1730 In a note, Thomson points out that “Macler suspects that something is wrong and suggests Persian or victorious” in lieu of P¯r¯z. Thomson himself maintains ıu that it “would be simplest to suppose that this Peroz was a general who is not mentioned elsewhere in Sebeos.”1731 There is nothing wrong in this case, however, with Sebeos’ narrative. Nor do we need to identify this P¯ uz with an ır¯ unknown Persian general. For the P¯ uz who intercepted the Armenian nobilır¯ ¯ ity who were ﬂeeing into G¯ an, is none other than the Al-i J¯m¯sp P¯ uz, the ıl¯ a a ır¯ grandson of the Sasanian J¯m¯sp who, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, had by then a a ıy¯ set up his authority over G¯ an. ıl¯

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§4.3: A L - I JAMASP 4.3.3 J¯ J¯ ansh¯h ıl-i ıl¯ a C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

G¯vb¯rih a a In G¯ an, P¯ uz married the daughter of one of the princes of G¯ an. From this ıl¯ ır¯ ıl¯ union was born a son called J¯ ansh¯h, who in turn had a son called J¯ J¯ anıl¯ a ıl-i ıl¯ sh¯h.1732 According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, J¯ J¯ ansh¯h became a great king and a ıy¯ ıl-i ıl¯ a most of the G¯ (that is, inhabitants of G¯ an) and the Daylamites paid allegiance ıl ıl¯ ¯ to him. If P¯ uz of the Al-i J¯m¯sp was in power in G¯ an at the time of Visır¯ a a ıl¯ t¯hm’s rebellion,1733 after the Vahewuni incident of 594–595, then by the same a reckoning of 35 years per generation, the rule of J¯ J¯ ansh¯h in G¯ an would ıl-i ıl¯ a ıl¯ fall sometime around 630s–660s CE, that is to say, around the period of the attempted Arab conquest of the northern parts of Iran. And this is precisely what happens in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative. ıy¯ At this point, Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s account becomes highly symbolic. J¯ J¯ ıy¯ ıl-i ıl¯nsh¯h’s astrologers told him that the kingdom of Tabarist¯n will one day be a a a . his. So J¯ J¯ ansh¯h appointed a regent in his place in G¯ an, picked up two ıl-i ıl¯ a ıl¯ G¯ ı cows and set out on foot to the east, toward Tabarist¯n. In fact, after J¯ ıl¯ a ıl-i . J¯ ansh¯h had shown so much courage in calming the turbulent situation in Taıl¯ a . barist¯n, as we shall shortly see, the people, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, gave a ıy¯ him the epithet G¯vb¯rih, the Cow Devotee.1734 Here then comes the account a a ¯ of conquest at which juncture the histories of the K¯rins, the Al-i B¯vand, or a a ¯ J¯m¯sp all come together in Ibn Isfand¯ rather, the Ispahbudh¯n, and the Al-i a a a ıy¯r’s narrative. a ¯ Adhar Val¯sh K¯rin a a ¯ In his movement east, J¯ J¯ ansh¯h came across a ﬁgure called Adhar Val¯sh, ıl-i ıl¯ a a ¯ who was the regent of Tabarist¯n. Who then was this Adhar Val¯sh? Once a a . ¯ again, Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative proves quite sound, for this Adhar Val¯sh was ıy¯ a almost certainly a progeny of the Parthian sp¯hbed D¯d-Burz-Mihr (D¯dmihr) a a a from the K¯rin family.1735 According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar and Mar ash¯ shortly a ıy¯ ı, before J¯ J¯ ansh¯h’s takeover of Tabarist¯n, Yazdgird III had given the control ıl-i ıl¯ a a . ¯ of the region, together with Gurg¯n, to this Adhar Val¯sh.1736 We recall that a a in our narrative of Yazdgird III’s ﬂight to the east, at one point we came across the information that while Yazdgird III did not accept the invitation of the overlord of Tabarist¯n and Farrukhz¯d’s advice for taking refuge in Tabarist¯n, a a a . . he had nonetheless appointed the overlord (sahib) of Tabarist¯n as the ispahbud, a . . .

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Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151; Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 7–8. ıy¯ ı Vist¯hm himself took refuge in G¯ an from where he “journeyed to the regions of a ıl¯ the Parthians, to the original land of his own principality.” Sebeos 1999, p. 42. 1734 As we will discuss in Chapter 5, page 373ff., the symbolic fetching of two cows in J¯ J¯ anıl-i ıl¯ sh¯h’s narrative is quite signiﬁcant in view of the connection between cows and Mihr worship. a We will elaborate on this epithet and its connection with Mihr worship in the next chapter; see pages 373 and 377. 1735 Justi 1895, p. 430. See page 114. 1736 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 154. Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 9–10. I would like to thank my former student ıy¯ ı Ranin K¯zem¯ for pointing this out to me. a ı
1733 Incidentally,

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for the latter “had previously held a humbler rank than this.”1737 This overlord of ¯ humbler rank, we can now ascertain, was none other than the K¯rinid Adhar a Val¯sh. a We cannot ascertain whether the K¯rins’ takeover of Tabarist¯n and Gura a . g¯n, prior to J¯ J¯ ansh¯h’s conquest of the region, was actually with the a ıl-i ıl¯ a tacit consent of Yazdgird III, or whether, as is most likely, the K¯rins’ resumpa tion of power was due to the confusion that ensued in the region after Vist¯hm’s rebellion,1738 Smbat Bagratuni’s governorship,1739 and the tumultuous a post-Bagratuni period. For all we know, the K¯rins might have helped Smbat a Bagratuni in his efforts to bring some order back to the region in the aftermath of Vist¯hm’s rebellion. When J¯ J¯ ansh¯h threatened to attack Tabarist¯n, a ıl-i ıl¯ a a . ¯ Adhar Val¯sh is said to have written a letter to Yazdgird III for help. The king a requested to be informed of the identity of the attacker. Upon further research into the background of this new ﬁgure in Tabarist¯n, the m¯bads of the king a o . (mobad¯n-i hadrat) recognized J¯ J¯ ansh¯h and informed Yazdgird III that he a . . ıl-i ıl¯ a was in fact a progeny of J¯m¯sp. Reportedly, Yazdgird III thereupon found it a a ¯ prudent (sal¯h ¯n d¯dand) to write to Adhar Val¯sh and to communicate to him a . a. a ı ¯ that as J¯ J¯ ansh¯h was a Sasanian, Adhar Val¯sh should forthwith give the ıl-i ıl¯ a a rule over Tabarist¯n to this progeny of J¯m¯sp. Yazdgird III, in other words, a a a . ¯ presumably ordered Adhar Val¯sh to accept the authority of J¯ J¯ ansh¯h of a ıl-i ıl¯ a ¯ J¯m¯sp over himself and his territory. the Al-i a a At any rate, J¯ J¯ ansh¯h assumed the control of the region at the inception ıl-i ıl¯ a of the Arab conquest. Having assumed authority over Tabarist¯n, the new a . ruler’s title became G¯ G¯ an Farshv¯dhjar Sh¯h. According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, ıl-i ıl¯ a a ıy¯ he commenced construction from G¯ an to Gurg¯n—signiﬁcantly when the rest ıl¯ a of Iran was experiencing the destructive effects of conquest—but maintained his capital in G¯ an. We recall, however, Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative on B¯v and the ıl¯ ıy¯ a account of how, when B¯v found the region in turmoil, at the invitation of the a people in the region, he assumed control, including that of Tabarist¯n, at this a . same turbulent period of the region’s history.

4.4

The Arab conquest of Tabarist¯n a .

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p. 82, de Goeje, 2875. See page 259. page 132ff. 1739 See page 138ff. 1740 See page 302ff.
1738 See

1737 Tabar¯ 1990, ı

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Here then start the accounts of the Arab conquest and the peace treaty made between Suwayd b. Muqarrin, Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n and J¯ J¯ an, as conınab¯ u a ıl-i ıl¯ tained in Tabar¯ At this late juncture of Sasanian history, we recall, the ﬁve ı. . dynasts in power in the quarters of the north and the east (the k¯st-i ¯durb¯u a a dag¯n and k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n) were Farrukhz¯d from the Ispahbudh¯n family, in a u aa a a ¯ Khur¯s¯n; J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, the progeny of the Sasanian cadet branch of the Al-i J¯a a ıl-i ıl¯ a a 1740 ¯ m¯sp, in G¯ an; the K¯rinid Adhar Val¯sh, in Tabarist¯n; a ıl¯ a a a the Kan¯rang¯ an, a ıy¯ .

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§4.4: A RAB CONQUEST C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

in Tus and part of N¯ ap¯r;1741 and ﬁnally the Mihr¯nid S¯ avakhsh, in Rayy ısh¯ u a ıy¯ .¯ and its environs.1742 As Yazdgird III had ﬂed to Khur¯s¯n and had decided not aa to take refuge in Tabarist¯n, where, he was told, the rulers of the region would a . support him and provide him with a safe haven from his enemies, Farrukhz¯d a abandoned him and together with his army headed west in order to make peace with the Arabs. As we have seen, however, most signiﬁcantly, Farrukhz¯d suda denly disappears from the scene somewhere in the quarters of the east and the north, at the very same time when B¯v appears in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative and a ıy¯ Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n in the fut¯h narratives. According to the fut¯h literaınab¯ u a u. u. ture, Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n then aided the Arab army of Muqarrin, waged ınab¯ u a war against S¯ avakhsh-i Mihr¯n, toppled the Mihr¯ns from power, and, makıy¯ a a ing peace with the Arabs, assumed the control of Rayy.1743 As J¯ J¯ ansh¯h was ıl-i ıl¯ a moving east into the territories of the Ispahbudh¯n, the Kan¯rang¯ an, and the a a ıy¯ K¯rins, Farrukhz¯d/B¯v/Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n was moving west to meet the Arab a a a u a armies. This is why some of our accounts maintain that Farrukhz¯d/B¯v/Ab¯ a a u ’l-Farrukh¯n, the ispahbud-i ispahbudh¯n, was the ruler of Khur¯s¯n but had a a aa authority over Tabarist¯n. We should also recall that the Turkish threat in Taa . . barist¯n did not subside during this period, so that when the Arabs ﬁrst arrived a in the environs of Gurg¯n—a region which was originally under the control of a the K¯rins and then the base of Smbat Bagratuni in the east1744 —it is the Turkic a ruler Sul whom they found in control of this frontier region.1745 .¯ 4.4.1 Peace treaty with Farrukhz¯d and J¯ J¯ ansh¯h a ıl-i ıl¯ a

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§3.4.7, especially page 271ff. page 249ff. 1743 See §3.4.4, especially page 250ff. 1744 See page 136ff. 1745 See page 253ff.
1742 See

1741 See

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It is appropriate to pause here and consider the nature of the allegiances that are made among the dynastic families vis-à-vis each other, and vis-à-vis the Arab army of conquest. For this information sheds further light on the ways in which—with the Sasanian monarchy out of the way—the rivalry among the Parthian dynasts actually provided the most convenient venue for the success of the Arabs and their gradual movement further east. The pattern that emerges in the process of the Arab conquest and diplomacy on the plateau is that, invariably, the Arabs picked sides. They became fully cognizant of the deeply entrenched rivalries among the dynastic families, and they made full use of this. They surely had a lot to work with: vying for power in parts of Khur¯s¯n, aa ¯ Tabarist¯n, and Azarb¯yj¯n were the Sasanian cadet branch of the Al-i J¯m¯sp, a a a a a . and the Parthian families of the Ispahbudh¯n, the Mihr¯n, the K¯rin, and the a a a Kan¯rang¯ an. This pattern is clearly reﬂected in Tabar¯ conquest narratives. a ıy¯ ı’s . For all the disparagement of Sayf b. Umar’s traditions, his is one of the most informative sources for precisely the light that it sheds on the Persian side of things.

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C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN §4.4: A RAB CONQUEST

After the Arab conquest of the quarters of the north and east in 650–651, and through the peace treaties that the Arabs implemented with the Parthian dynastic families, these latter were left free in the administration of their domains. From west to east, all the major dynastic families continued in power subsequent to the nominal conquest of the region. The one possible exception were the Mihr¯ns, who were toppled in Rayy with the complicity of Z¯ ı a ınab¯ Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n, that is to say, Farrukhz¯d. Rayy, which must have been u a a a long coveted region for them, came under the control of the Ispahbudh¯n. a ¯ To the west of Tabarist¯n, in G¯ an, the Sasanian branch of the Al-i J¯m¯sp a ıl¯ a a . ¯ remained in power. The Al-i J¯m¯spid J¯ J¯ ansh¯h and the Ispahbudh¯n Fara a ıl-i ıl¯ a a rukhz¯d, acting in chorus, signed a peace treaty with the Arabs. In exchange a for restraining their “robbers and the people on their borders,” Farrukhz¯d, the a ispahbud of all ispahbuds, the ruler of Khur¯s¯n with authority over Tabarisaa . t¯n, under whose rule all the other sp¯hbeds were now gathered, and J¯ J¯ an a a ıl-i ıl¯ ¯ of the Al-i J¯m¯sp remained in power, the Arabs agreeing that they would not a a “have a right to attack” their territories or invade the domains under their control, “or even to approach [them] without [their] permission.”1746 The Parthian Kan¯rang¯ an family, who in all likelihood were a branch of the Ispahbudh¯n a ıy¯ a family, likewise retained control over their traditional domains, the region of Tus.1747 There they aided the Arabs in subduing the K¯rins, and in return rea .¯ ceived full control over N¯ ap¯r.1748 In short, the Kan¯rang¯ an remained in ısh¯ u a ıy¯ power in Inner Khur¯s¯n.1749 As a result, the K¯rins’ territory in the northeast aa a shrank. Nonetheless, a certain Mard¯nsh¯h, a K¯rinid bearing the title Masa a a . mugh¯n,1750 was left in control of Dam¯vand, Khuw¯r, L¯riz, and Shirriz,1751 a a a a being promised by the Arabs that “he will not be attacked, nor . . . approached save by [his] permission.”1752 The K¯rins also continued to hold power in the a ¯ eastern parts of the region, ruling now under the authority of Al-i J¯m¯sp,1753 a a ¯ B¯vand, that is to say, under the Ispahbudh¯n,1754 at and then under the Al-i a a subsequent junctures of the post-conquest history of the region.

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pp. 30–31, de Goeje, 2659; Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 3, p. 25. ır pages 266ff and 276ff. 1748 See page 271ff. 1749 In Pourshariati 1995, in the hope of better understanding the post-conquest history of this vast region, we proposed a new conception of Khur¯s¯n into Inner Khur¯s¯n and Outer Khur¯s¯n aa aa aa (see §6.2.1 below). See also Pourshariati 2004. The Kan¯rang¯ an, however, lost whatever control a ıy¯ they had over the frontier city of Nis¯, in Outer Khur¯s¯n, which later became a base for Arab a aa settlement. Ibid. 1750 For the possible meaning of the term (grand moγ), see Marquart 1931, pp. 113–114. According to Justi, the Masmugh¯n belong to the K¯rin family, and they trace their ancestry to the righteous a a . Arm¯y¯ (see footnote 172). Justi 1895, p. 199. a ıl 1751 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 27, de Goeje, 2656; Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 3, p. 24. See page 252 for a discussion ı ır . of the political context. 1752 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 27, de Goeje, 2656. ı . 1753 See for instance page 277ff, and §4.5.1 below. 1754 See page 307 below, as well as the forthcoming work of the author.
1747 See

1746 Tabar¯ 1994, ı

.

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§4.4: A RAB CONQUEST C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

The status of Azarb¯yj¯n at this time is less clear,1755 but considering the a a sunna established as a result of the early conquest, it probably remained under the sovereignty of a cadet branch of the Ispahbudh¯n family, after Farrukha z¯d’s sons Isfand¯ ar and Bahr¯m made peace with the Arabs.1756 Meanwhile, a ıy¯ a Shahrvar¯z, a progeny of the Mihr¯nid general Shahrvar¯z, while foreign to a a a the region, ended up collaborating with the Arabs in the frontier regions of the Caucasus.1757 Considering the direction which the history of Iran took after the 650s—when the nobility had to have been in physical control of their agnatic lands and had to have come to terms with the Arab armies, if they were to continue to rule over their territories—and in view of the fact that the army of the Parthian Shahrvar¯z had become landless, so to speak, it is rather likely that a at least part of this family and the army under their control ended up settling in the frontier regions of the Caucasus. ¯ In short, with the Parthian Al-i B¯vand (Ispahbudh¯n) family, the Sasanian a a ¯ J¯m¯sp, the K¯rin, and the Kan¯rang¯ an remaining in control of a trunAl-i a a a a ıy¯ cated quarter of the east and a substantial part of the quarter of the north, no substantive transformation was effected in these territories. We are now in a position to add an actual schematic picture—sometimes, as in the case of Taba. rist¯n and Inner Khur¯s¯n more or less clear, and sometimes, as in the case of a aa Azarb¯yj¯n a very probable conjecture about the sociopolitical scene of these a a regions. As Bal am¯ account makes amply clear, and in view of the fragmentaı’s tion of authority, especially in Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n, there was an inﬂationaa a . ary trend toward the use of the title ispahbud in these regions, as each Parthian ¯ dynast, as well as the Al-i J¯m¯sp, the ﬁrst rather justiﬁably one might add, came a a to claim the title. Contrary to Rekaya’s claims,1758 this trend was not without historical basis, for by the 650s, the title had been in circulation for more than a century. The title ispahbud bestowed a legitimacy that all were keen to preserve and ﬂaunt, for the consumption of their subjects as well as their rivals. How ¯ long, however, did these Parthian dynasts and the Al-i J¯m¯sp continue to rule a a in these territories in the post-conquest centuries? We shall begin to follow the ebb and ﬂow of the rules of these families in what follows. D¯b¯yih a u According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, both J¯ J¯ ansh¯h and B¯v, that is to say, Farıy¯ ıl-i ıl¯ a a rukhz¯d, ruled for 15 years before they died. Considering that the Arabs signed a a peace treaty with these two dynasts around 650–651, their deaths may have occurred around 665. To determine the exact domains under their control, we continue to follow Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s account. J¯ J¯ ansh¯h left two sons: ıy¯ ıl-i ıl¯ a
1755 See 1756 Tabar¯ 1994, ı

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340.

.

also §3.4.8. p. 32, de Goeje, 2661; Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 3, pp. 27–28; Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 335– ır ı

page 279ff. a a R.M., ‘M¯zy¯r: résistance ou intégration d’une province Iranienne au monde Musulman au milieu du IXe siècle ap. J.C.’, Studia Iranica 2, (1973), pp. 143–192 (Rekaya 1973).
1758 Rekaya,

1757 See

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C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN §4.4: A RAB CONQUEST

D¯b¯yih and B¯d¯sp¯n. Without doubt, B¯d¯sp¯n is actually a title and not a a u a u a a u a name, the Arabic form of p¯dh¯sp¯n.1759 D¯b¯yih, who is said to have a horriﬁc a u a a u temper, assumed the throne after his father, but kept his seat of government in G¯ an. Meanwhile, B¯d¯sp¯n became the king of R¯y¯n.1760 The manuscript ıl¯ a u a u a history of the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n is not clear,1761 but in the edited version of aı a . the manuscript currently at our disposal, it is after narrating the death of J¯ ıl-i J¯ ansh¯h and the assumption of power of his sons D¯b¯yih and B¯d¯sp¯n, that ıl¯ a a u a u a Ibn Isfand¯ ar starts his account by saying that “after B¯v, when the population ıy¯ a of Tabarist¯n had divided into factions, D¯b¯yih [also] died.”1762 Since D¯a a u a . b¯yih remained in G¯ an, it is very probable that his power did not extend u ıl¯ much farther in the eastern parts of the region. Now B¯v, that is Farrukhz¯d, a a almost certainly controlled Khur¯s¯n, and nominally at least, parts of Tabarisaa . t¯n during this period.1763 In other words, if we follow Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative a ıy¯ closely, we realize that J¯ J¯ ansh¯h and Farrukhz¯d ruled contemporaneously, ıl-i ıl¯ a a the former ruling over G¯ an and the latter ruling over Khur¯s¯n but having ıl¯ aa authority over Tabarist¯n. a . B¯v (Farrukhz¯d), however, did not die a natural death, but was killed by a a Val¯sh, a member of another age-old rival Parthian family, the K¯rins.1764 As a a the K¯rins also launched a major revolt in south–western Khur¯s¯n and Q¯a aa u hist¯n at precisely this time,1765 we are witnessing here a major civil war in the a region between the K¯rins and the Ispahbudh¯n, most probably a reﬂection of a a the K¯rins’ attempt at regaining their lost power in the region. At any rate, a after the murder of the Ispahbudh¯n Farrukhz¯d by the K¯rinid Val¯sh, the a a a a latter assumed control over the region and ruled for eight years, until roughly 673. Suhr¯b a Of all the possible progenies that one might suspect the Ispahbudh¯n family, a speciﬁcally Farrukhz¯d, to have had in Tabarist¯n and Khur¯s¯n itself, only a a a aa . small child, a certain Suhr¯b, is said to have remained.1766 This might be exa plained by the intensity of the inter-Parthian rivalry prior to this period, when
footnote 411. Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 154. ıy¯ 1761 Melville 2000. 1762 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 156. ıy¯ 1763 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 156. ıy¯ 1764 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 156; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 93. In Justi 1895, p. 346, Val¯sh is called a ıy¯ ı a ¯ grandson of Adhar Val¯sh. So important had the by then legendary ﬁgure of B¯v become that, a a in a thoroughly different context, Ibn Isfand¯ ar gives a chronologically impossible and clearly ıy¯ ¯ legendary story about the murder of B¯v at the hands of the Al-i J¯m¯spid Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg—on a a a a whom see §4.4.2 below—when, presumably, the latter heard of the treachery of B¯v in building S¯r¯ a aı when in fact he had ordered him to construct a city in a different location. Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, ıy¯ p. 59. Signiﬁcantly, this tradition highlights the fact that a variant of the local lore of the region ¯ ¯ attributed the construction of S¯r¯ to the Al-i B¯vand as opposed to the Al-i J¯m¯sp. aı a a a 1765 See page 277. 1766 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 156. Rendered Surkh¯b in Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 93. ıy¯ a ı
1760 Ibn 1759 See

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§4.4: A RAB CONQUEST C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

the K¯rins might have been successful in more or less decimating the senior a members of this family in the region. The defeat of the Ispahbudh¯n by the K¯a a rins in the post-civil war period might, however, also be partly explained by the fact that part of the Ispahbudh¯n family was concentrating their efforts in Azara b¯yj¯n at the time of the conquest of the region, and probably remained there in a a the post-conquest centuries.1767 In view of our lack of concrete information to this effect, however, this claim remains purely conjectural. After the murder of B¯v (Farrukhz¯d) by the K¯rinid Val¯sh, Suhr¯b, who was only a young child, a a a a a allegedly ﬂed with his aged mother to a village near S¯r¯ thence to the region a ı, of K¯l¯. K¯l¯, we recall, formed in fact the nisba of Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n ua ua ınab¯ u a (al-Z¯nab¯ b. Q¯lah).1768 This then might have been an Ispahbudh¯n home-base. ı ı u a The people of K¯l¯, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, with the population of the ua ıy¯ mountain of K¯rin, then gathered around this small child, and murdered the a K¯rinid Val¯sh, and put the child Suhr¯b on the throne of Tabarist¯n. The civil a a a a . war between the Ispahbudh¯n and the K¯rins, in other words, was by no means a a over. Now sometime prior to this period, D¯b¯yih, the son of J¯ J¯ ansh¯h a u ıl-i ıl¯ a had also died.1769 It is at this point then, that with a recent civil war wreaking havoc in the eastern parts of Tabarist¯n as well as Khur¯s¯n, and with a child a aa . dynast of the Ispahbudh¯n family on the throne of Tabarist¯n, that according a a . to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, Dhu ’l-Man¯qib Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg, the son of D¯b¯yih, ıy¯ a a a u entered the scene of Tabarist¯n. a . 4.4.2 Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg Dhu ’l-Man¯qib a a A close reading of Ibn Isfand¯ ar shows that the conquest of Tabarist¯n by ıy¯ a . Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg and the inception of his rule over this region do not date to a the early Arab conquest, as hitherto believed,1770 but probably occurred some two decades later, around 673. For, as Ibn Isfand¯ ar relates, it was “after B¯v, ıy¯ a [when] the people of Tabarist¯n had divided into factions, [and] D¯b¯yih had a a u . [also] died,” that Dhu ’l-Man¯qib Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg, came with a great army a a and conquered Tabarist¯n “up to the borders of N¯ ap¯r.”1771 In fact, the ﬁrst a ısh¯ u . Arab or Persian attempt at breaking the treaty previously established with the rulers of the region, took place precisely during this period when the Arab general Masqalah b. Hubayrah al-Shayb¯n¯ attacked the region,1772 probably in a ı . 54 AH/674 CE,1773 precisely at the time when Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg conquered a Tabarist¯n and installed himself as the ruler there on the wake of the civil war a . between the Ispahbudh¯n and the K¯rins in the region. Masqalah, together with a a .
1767 Recall that two other sons of Farrukhz¯d, Isfand¯ ar and Bahr¯m, ruled in Azarb¯yj¯n after a ıy¯ a a a they had made peace with the Arabs; see §3.4.8. 1768 Tabar¯ 1994, p. 26, de Goeje, 2655. See page 250ff. ı . 1769 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 156; Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 10–11, 157–158. ıy¯ ı 1770 Madelung, Wilferd, ‘Dabuyids’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007a (Madelung 2007a), p. 542 and the sources cited therein. 1771 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 156. ıy¯ 1772 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 157; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 11. ıy¯ ı 1773 Madelung 2007a, p. 542.

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4,000 men, struggled for two years against Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg at which point a the Arab army was defeated and massacred and Masqalah killed. The defeat . of Masqalah’s army was so disastrous and its destruction so total that “the ex. pression until Masqalah returns from Tabarist¯n, conveying the impossibility of a . . completing a task, for many years afterwards circulated among the people.” According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, Masqalah’s tomb still existed on the road from Kaj¯ ıy¯ u . to Kand¯s¯n and the commoners ( avvam u ’l-nass) still “slavishly and benightua edly (bi taql¯d o jahl) went on pilgrimage to it [thinking] that he was one of the ı Companions (sah¯ba) of the Prophet!”1774 . .a In the process of conquering Tabarist¯n, Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg brought all a a . the regional rulers under his control. Signiﬁcantly, the only dynast whose territory he did not conquer was the “progeny of B¯v, whose respect he maina tained and whose abode he did not invade.”1775 Through an anecdotal narrative, Ibn Isfand¯ ar informs us that the K¯rinid Masmugh¯n Val¯sh, the marzb¯n of ıy¯ a a a a . Dam¯vand,1776 was killed and his territory appended to that of Dhu ’l-Man¯qib a a (Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg).1777 With the power of the K¯rins temporarily overshada a owed, and with the shrunken power of the Ispahbudh¯n respected, therefore, a ¯ by the end of the seventh century the Sasanian Al-i J¯m¯sp gained power over a a most of Tabarist¯n, the two other major Parthian dynastic families coming una . der their suzerainty in the region and the Kan¯rang¯ an remaining in control a ıy¯ over Inner Khur¯s¯n. In a sense, by the end of the seventh century, the macroaa cosmic Sasanian–Parthian confederacy was recreated, in a microcosmic fashion, in the extensive regions of G¯ an and Tabarist¯n. Essentially, this picture did ıl¯ a . not change until the early Abb¯sid caliphate. a According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, the next major encounter of Farrukh¯n-i Boıy¯ a zorg, whom he calls the ispahbud of Tabarist¯n, with the Arabs1778 took place a . when the schismatic Kharijite leader Qatar¯ b. al-Fuj¯ ah, the “rebel (gardankish) a . ı of the [period of] Hajj¯j b. Y¯suf . . . together with the rest of the leaders of the u . a Khaw¯rij [Kharijites], may God curse them, took refuge with the ispahbud.”1779 a
1774 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 158; Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 125. For the topos of the settlement or death of a ıy¯ ı Companion of the Prophet in a region, see Pourshariati 1995. 1775 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 158. ıy¯ 1776 We postulate that this is the same K¯rinid Val¯sh who killed B¯v (see page 307), and that he is a a a related, or even identical to Masmugh¯n Mard¯nsh¯h, who made peace with the Arabs (see page 252 a a a . and footnote 1750). 1777 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 158. ıy¯ 1778 There were other attempts by the Arabs to subdue the region. One such attempt was made by Muhammad b. Ash ath, when he was appointed as nominal governor of Tabarist¯n by Ubaydala . . l¯h b. Yaz¯ the governor of K¯fa (60–64 AH/679–684 CE). When Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg delayed a ıd, u a forwarding the tribute of Tabarist¯n, Ibn Ash ath invaded the region, only to be defeated and lose a . his son in the process. Madelung 2007a, p. 542. This attempt of Muhammad b. Ash ath is not . mentioned in the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, however. aı a . 1779 Including Umar-i Fann¯q(?) and S¯lih-i Mikn¯q(?). Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 158. Qatar¯ b. ala a ıy¯ .a . . ı Fuj¯ ah took refuge in Tabarist¯n at a time when a split had occurred among the Khaw¯rij, with a a a . Qatar¯ assuming the leadership of a small splinter group, while the opposing, larger camp was led by . ı Abd Rabb al-Kab¯ See Sadighi, Ghulam Husayn, Junbish-h¯-i D¯n¯-i Ir¯n¯, Tehran, 1996 (Sadighi ır. a ı ı a ı

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Throughout the winter Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg supplied the forces of Qatar¯ with a . ı provisions, fodder and gifts (nuzl o alaf o had¯y¯ o tuhaf).1780 Once “their horses a a . became well fed and they themselves strengthened,” however, the Kharijites sent messages to the ispahbud urging him: “convert to our religion for otherwise we will take control of your region and commence war against you.”1781 Meanwhile, Hajj¯j sent Sufy¯n b. Abras to Tabarist¯n in pursuit of Qatar¯ When a a . a . . . ı. Sufy¯n reached Rayy, Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg had already taken his army to Dam¯a a a vand in waiting. He sent a message to Sufy¯n proposing to him that he would a aid him in defeating Qatar¯ in exchange for not being harassed thenceforth in . ı his region. Sufy¯n agreed to these conditions. The war between Farrukh¯n-i a a Bozorg’s and Qatar¯ forces took place in the environs of Simn¯n, where the a . ı’s latter was defeated and the leaders of the Kharijites were killed.1782 Farrukh¯na i Bozorg thereupon pardoned the weak and the captive (du af¯ o as¯r¯n) from a ıa . ¯ among Qatar¯ army and settled these in Amul, “their location (mowdi ) being . . ı’s to this day visible and called Qatr¯ Kal¯da.”1783 In the late seventh century, in a . ı ¯ other words, a small group of Kharijites settled in Amul. 4.4.3 Yaz¯ b. Muhallab’s unsuccessful conquest of 716–718 ıd Meanwhile in the rivalry between Qutaybah1784 and Yaz¯ b. Muhallab, Farruıd kh¯n-i Bozorg—in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative now often referred to simply as a ıy¯ the ispahbud—joined the camp of Qutaybah. So while Qutaybah continued his wars of expansion in Khur¯s¯n and Transoxiana, becoming notorious for aa his harsh rule,1785 he continued to respect the suzerainty of Farrukh¯n-i Boa zorg in Tabarist¯n. Qutaybah’s friendship with Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg and his a a .
1996), p. 44. 1780 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 158. ıy¯ 1781 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 158: ıy¯
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In the interim, Hajj¯j b. Y¯suf made further unsuccessful efforts to conquer Tabarist¯n. These, u a . a . however, are not covered in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative. Madelung 2007a, p. 542. ıy¯ 1782 This is apparently reported by Tabar¯ with a different twist. Also see Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 5, ı ır . pp. 29–36. In Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative, the victory of the ispahbud over Qatar¯ is underlined and ıy¯ . ı Hajj¯j b. Y¯suf is portrayed as having recognized this, rewarding Sufy¯n b. Abras for his failure by u a . a . spreading dirt on his head. In Tabar¯ account, on the other hand, Sufy¯n remained in Tabarist¯n ı’s a a . . until 82 AH/701 CE in order to subdue the region, albeit unsuccessfully. Madelung 2007a, p. 542. 1783 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 160. ıy¯ 1784 “Qutaybah b. Muslim al-B¯hil¯ became the governor of Khur¯s¯n in 85 AH / 704 CE . He was a ı aa killed when he tried to rebel at the time of Sulaym¯n’s succession in 95 AH/ 714–715 CE. During a his governorship he undertook many campaigns beyond Khur¯s¯n . . . [he] laid the foundations on aa which Islamic rule in Central Asia was built.” Tabar¯ The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate: Prelude ı, . to Revolution: A.D. 738-745/A.H. 121-127, vol. XXVI of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1989b, ı . translated and annotated by Carole Hillenbrand (Tabar¯ 1989b), p. 34, n. 178 and the referenced ı . therein, de Goeje, II, 1697. 1785 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 161–162. As Sadighi maintains, “none of the Arab governors who ıy¯ aa had come to Khur¯s¯n prior to this, were as oppressive or heavy handed toward the population or reneged on the pacts [that they had made] as much as Qutaybah.” Sadighi 1996, p. 47.

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C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN §4.4: A RAB CONQUEST

rivalry with Yaz¯ b. Muhallab are highlighted in Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative: ıd ıy¯ whenever Qutaybah would boast about one of his conquests in Khur¯s¯n and aa Transoxiana, Yaz¯ b. Muhallab would retort by reminding him that he had ıd not been able to do the same with Tabarist¯n.1786 As a result, according to a . Ibn Isfand¯ ar, Qutaybah recognized even more clearly “that Yaz¯ was his ıy¯ ıd enemy and the ispahbud his friend.”1787 When Sulaym¯n b. Abdalmalik (715– a 717) became caliph and ordered Qutaybah’s murder, he also encouraged Yaz¯ b. Muhallab “to undertake that which he had criticized Qutaybah for not ıd fulﬁlling” and conquer Tabarist¯n himself.1788 Around this time then, in 98 a . AH /716 CE , the famous failed conquest of Tabarist¯n at the hands of Yaz¯ a ıd . b. Muhallab took place. In the two-year engagement of Muhallab’s forces with those of the ispahbud, both sides suffered tremendous loss.1789 When Muhallab had taken Gurg¯n and a Tamm¯ ısha, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, the ispahbud retreated to the mountains, ıy¯ following the movement of Yaz¯ army to the west from the comfortable disıd’s tance of the mountain highlands. Yaz¯ therefore, was able to reach S¯r¯ and ıd, aı take over the ispahbud’s palace. When the population of the region dispersed, the ispahbud himself contemplated ﬂeeing to the Daylam in order to ask for aid. According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, faced with the conquest of Muhallab’s army of his ıy¯ capital S¯r¯ which he himself had constructed,1790 the ispahbud went to his father a ı, in order to apprise him of his decision to go to the Daylam.1791 Here, therefore, we realize that by the time Yaz¯ b. Muhallab invaded Tabarist¯n, rule could ıd a . have passed from one ispahbud, Dhu ’l-Man¯qib Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg, to his a a son D¯dmihr, who also bore, naturally, the title of ispahbud. Alternatively, rule a could simply have been shared between father and son during this period. From 673 to 716, therefore, we may be dealing with two generations of ispahbuds of ¯ the Al-i J¯m¯sp in control of Tabarist¯n. We shall further deal with this in a a a a . short while.1792 The ispahbud’s father, however, advised against taking refuge with the Daylam, for he argued to his son that at the moment he was still a great ruler with a strong army, and that this would all change were he to ﬂee to the Daylam in despair. Besides, he argued, there was no guarantee of a positive reception on the part of the Daylam for greed might prompt them to side with the enemy as a result of the ispahbud’s weakness.1793 Instead, his father advised the ispahbud to ask the aid of the Daylam from a safe distance. The Daylam
1786 Ibn

Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 162. ıy¯

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n wa Kit¯b Ma rifa Ulam¯ Ahl Jurj¯n with the pro-Qutaybah tenor of that of Ibn Isfand¯ ar. See a a a ıy¯ Pourshariati 1998. 1788 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 162. ıy¯ 1789 It is important to note that the army accompanying Muhallab also included contingents from Khur¯s¯n and Transoxiana, and was, therefore, not a purely Arab army. aa 1790 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 77. ıy¯ 1791 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 162. ıy¯ 1792 See page 312ff. 1793 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 162. ıy¯

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1787 It is interesting to compare the pro-Muhallab account of Sahm¯ narrative in the Ta r¯kh-i Jurj¯ı’s ı a

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§4.4: A RAB CONQUEST C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

responded favorably, and coming to the aid of the ispahbud, they surrounded the Arab army massacring 15,000 of them. On the promise of booty, the Turks on the eastern end of Tabarist¯n under the command of Sul also came to the a . .¯ aid of the ispahbud and attacked the Arab population of Gurg¯n, massacring all a of them, including members of Muhallab’s family. At the end of this period, therefore, Yaz¯ b. Muhallab complained to ıd Hayy¯n al-Nabat¯ a companion of his own tribe, that “it has been two years a ı, . that we have been engaged in this ghazwa and jih¯d, and we cannot conquer the a land single-handedly, and our people have lost their patience. No one accepts conversion. [Pray] seek a solution so that we can leave this region intact. We can take our vengeance on the population of Gurg¯n [in the future] and prepare a ourselves for this on another occasion.”1794 Hence, although Yaz¯ b. Muhallab ıd established some settlements in Tabarist¯n and Gurg¯n during the two years a a . of ﬁghting between his forces and those of the ispahbud, he cannot be credited with establishing permanent settlements in Gurg¯n.1795 So, while Sahm¯ claims a ı that Muhallab established khitat in Gurg¯n,1796 Ibn Isfand¯ ar maintains that by a ıy¯ . . the combined efforts of the ispahbud and his allies, at the end of this period, no Arab settlements were left in the region.1797 Chronology of Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg’s rule a A close reading of Ibn Isfand¯ ar can help clarify some chronological confuıy¯ sions. First of all, the rule of Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg does not commence at the a inception of the Arab conquest of the region in 650–651 as hitherto believed, but, as we have seen, only around 673. Moreover, according Ibn Isfand¯ ar, a ıy¯ certain Farrukh¯n was the ispahbud of Tabarist¯n during the attack on the rea a . gion by Yaz¯ b. Muhallab in 98 AH/716–717 CE. However, both a father and ıd his son appear here as ispahbuds in the narrative, so that it is not clear whether we are dealing with Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg, or possibly his son D¯dmihr. After a a Muhallab’s defeat, the ispahbud Farrukh¯n “once again reconstructed his realm a and continued(?) (dar kesh¯d) to rule for seventeen years,” that is to say, until ı approximately 728 CE. After his death, his son D¯dmihr then ruled for another a
1794 Ibn
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The rest of the story here is somewhat confused. The text clearly states that Yaz¯ b. Muhallab ıd agreed to pay 300,000 dirhams in exchange for being given safe passage by the ispahbud, but then it maintains that the ispahbud returned the payment(?) (ad¯ -i m¯l bikard). Ibid., p. 164. At any rate, a a Muhallab was not able to leave the territory with any booty. Ibid., p. 165. 1795 Note, in this connection, the author’s article Pourshariati 1998, where this claim was made. 1796 Sahm¯ Ab¯ ’l-Q¯sim Hamza, Ta r¯kh-i Jurj¯n wa Kit¯b Ma rifa Ulam¯ Ahl Jurj¯n, Haydarabad, ı, u a ı a a a a . ı 1967, edited by Muhammad A. Khan (Sahm¯ 1967), pp. 18–20. 1797 It is possible, of course, that the truth lies somewhere between these two traditions and that in fact a small colony of Arab settlers did end up settling in Gurg¯n. a

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twelve years, until about 740 CE. According to this chronology, Farrukh¯n-i a Bozorg therefore ruled for 55 years,1798 from circa 673 until 728. We do in fact have coinage of the ispahbuds of Tabarist¯n commencing with a . the 60th year of Yazdgird III (93 AH/711 CE).1799 The coins of the years 93–103 AH /711–721 CE carry the name Farrukh, while the coins of the period 103–110 AH /721–728 CE bear the name Farrukh¯n.1800 Based on this numismatic evia dence J. M. Unvala had suggested that we are probably dealing with two ﬁgures here. Madelung, siding with J. Walker, proposes that Unvala might have been mistaken, and that we are in fact dealing with one and the same person here, the 17 years of the totality of the coins corresponding to Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s contention ıy¯ that Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg ruled for seventeen years after Muhallab.1801 Indeed, a according the chronology we just derived using the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, these aı a . dates coincide remarkably well with the latter part of the reign of Farrukh¯n-i a Bozorg. Throughout D¯dmihr’s twelve year long reign (circa 728–740), no soul cova eted his realm according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar. That the author is referring to the ıy¯ Arabs here is clear from his subsequent remark: Until the end of the Umayyads no-one entered Tabarist¯n,1802 for “the Muslims were preoccupied with revolts a . and the transfer of the caliphate.”1803 For this D¯dmihr, we also have coinage, a corroborating once more our chronology based on Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s account: ıy¯ from the years 112 and 120–122 AH/730 and 738–740 CE.1804 At his death in 741, D¯dmihr’s son Khursh¯ was only a young child. Before his death therea ıd fore, D¯dmihr entrusted his son to his brother Farrukh¯n-i K¯chak, making a a a u contract with him that he should rule as a vice-regent until Khursh¯ became of ıd age, at which time he should transfer the rule to the latter. Farrukh¯n-i K¯chak a u accepted and ruled as vice-regent for eight years, at which point, after a struggle with his cousins, Khursh¯ the Sun-King, assumed the throne of Tabarist¯n, by ıd, a . Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s reckoning sometime in 749 CE. ıy¯

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1804 Madelung

2007a, p. 543.

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1798 This, of course, is a rather unusually long reign, and so it might be the case that, as some part of Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative seems to suggest, we are actually dealing with two generations during ıy¯ this period. 1799 Signiﬁcantly the calendar of Tabarist¯n commences with the death of Yazdgird III, making the a . year one of the calendar 32 AH/652 CE. For this coinage see, Curiel, Raoul and Gyselen, Rika, Une collection de monnaies de cuivre Arabo-Sasanides, Paris, 1984 (Curiel and Gyselen 1984), pp. 49–56, as well as Madelung 2007a, and the sources cited therein. 1800 Madelung 2007a, p. 543. 1801 Madelung 2007a, p. 543. 1802 Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 12, Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 165. ı ıy¯ 1803 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 170: ıy¯

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§4.5: K HURSHID S HAH C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

4.5

Khursh¯ Sh¯h ıd a

The manner in which Khursh¯ regained his throne and subsequently ruled ıd attests to the agnatic structure of rule that was the norm in the northern regions of the former Sasanian realm. In the face of his cousins’ opposition to the transfer of rule to him, Khursh¯ obtained the aid of other members of his ıd extended family, namely the three sons of Jushnas, the son of S¯r¯yih, the son au of Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg, in other words, the sons of his paternal cousin.1805 After a taking the throne, Khursh¯ compensated the three brothers for their services: ıd ¯ he gave Vandarand and Fahr¯n (Bahr¯m?) respectively the governorship of Aa a mul and Kuhist¯n (the highland), while keeping the third brother, Farrukh¯a a n, in his own service. A maternal cousin, one Shahrkhw¯st¯n, was given the a a command of the army.1806 Through a long narrative Ibn Isfand¯ ar then details Khursh¯ construcıy¯ ıd’s tion activities and the wealth of his realm. During Khursh¯ reign, Tabarist¯n ıd’s a . was heavily engaged in textile production, including silk, as well as in trade, for the Sun-King is said to have constructed bazaars, gathering therein all the tradesmen of Tabarist¯n, and caravansaries.1807 In fact, a burgeoning economy a . was already in place during the reign of Khursh¯ grandfather, Farrukh¯n-i Boıd’s a zorg, when among the products of Tabarist¯n there was silk, cotton, and wool a . textiles, besides the varied agricultural products of this rich and lush region of Iran. The bulk of the trade of Tabarist¯n, however, Ibn Isfand¯ ar informs us, a ıy¯ . was with the Bulgh¯r and Saqasayn in Turkist¯n, most of it, it seems, being a a maritime trade via the Caspian Sea.1808 It is rather certain, therefore, that a crucial dimension of Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg’s friendship with Qutaybah was the a mutual trade interests of the two parties in Transoxiana and Central Asia. Here then Ibn Isfand¯ ar provides us with further signiﬁcant information about the ıy¯ saga of one of the Parthian dynastic families, the ambitious K¯rins. a 4.5.1 The sp¯hbed K¯rin a a

One of the sp¯hbeds of Khursh¯ realm, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, was a a ıd’s ıy¯ certain K¯rin, who had enormous wealth and “four thousand soldiers, and who a always sat on a golden throne and wore silk garments.” K¯rin’s orders “were a [also] incumbent upon the population under [the control of] the ispahbud [i.e., Khursh¯ ıd].” His pretensions, however, grew over time, so much so that he became arrogant and did not pay the required deference to the other grandees

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1805 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 171. Ibn Isfand¯ ar calls these mistakenly the maternal cousins of Khurıy¯ ıy¯ sh¯ Madelung 2007a, p. 543. ıd. 1806 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 172. Fahr¯n is rendered Qahr¯n in Mar ash¯ 1966, p. 12. Madelung ıy¯ a a ı 2007a, p. 543. This Shahrkhw¯st¯n was a much elder ﬁgure for already at the time of Farrukh¯n-i a a a Bozorg, we see him, advanced in age, as an extremely powerful and wealthy ﬁgure who stood in opposition to the open door trade policies of Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg. Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 77. a ıy¯ 1807 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 172. ıy¯ 1808 The voyage of the ships to the latter location from Tabarist¯n is said to have taken three months a . and the return one week(!). Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 81. ıy¯

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and elite of the realm. He became overbearing, oppressing people.1809 “The population,” Ibn Isfand¯ ar recounts, “were awaiting an excuse for rebellion.”1810 ıy¯ ¯ Here, signiﬁcantly, during the reign of the Al-i J¯m¯sp Khursh¯ the Sun-King, a a ıd, and immediately after the narrative on the power, wealth, and armed forces of the sp¯hbed K¯rin, when people were waiting an excuse for rebellion, begins Ibn a a Isfand¯ ar account of Sunb¯d’s rebellion.1811 ıy¯ a 4.5.2 Sunb¯d’s murder a

Ibn Isfand¯ ar narrates, that “as we have previously noted,1812 the caliph Manıy¯ ¯ u a sur killed Ab¯ Muslim.” In Rayy, Sunb¯d heard of the news of the murder of . Ab¯ Muslim, and sending all of his treasury and cattle, together with six million u dirhams as a personal gift, to Khursh¯ rebelled against Mansur.1813 After Sunıd, .¯ b¯d’s defeat at the hands of Jawhar b. Marr¯r, so many of the followers of the a a rebel had been killed, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, that until the year 300 AH the ıy¯ remains of those slaughtered were still visible in the region of Rayy. In ﬂight, Sunb¯d set out toward Tabarist¯n and took refuge with Khursh¯ 1814 a a ıd. . In an anecdotal story, Ibn Isfand¯ ar highlights the arrogance of Sunb¯d ıy¯ a in dealing with one of the cousins of Khursh¯ and indirectly therefore, with ıd, Khursh¯ himself. In this narrative, Khursh¯ sent a certain Tus, his cousin on ıd ıd .¯ his father’s side, together with presents and gifts and horses, to the reception of Sunb¯d, somewhere between Tabarist¯n and Q¯mis.1815 When the two para a u . a ties met, Tus dismounted from his horse and paid his respects to Sunb¯d. In .¯ insolence, however, Sunb¯d did not reciprocate the respect, and continued to a
1809 Ibn 1810 Mar ash¯ 1966, ı

Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 173. ıy¯ pp. 12–14, Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 173: ıy¯
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a more detailed account of this important rebellion, see §6.4. a long exposition prior to this, Ibn Isfand¯ ar describes the caliph Mansur’s ﬁnal move ıy¯ .¯ against Ab¯ Muslim, the leader of the Abb¯sid revolution (for more details see our discussion in u a §6.2). “I have never read,” Ibn Isfand¯ ar maintains, “a stranger story than that of Ab¯ Muslim, ıy¯ u for God almighty had given this peasant such submission (tamk¯n) that he was able to fulﬁll such ı an arduous task which he had undertaken.” After he had overcome the Umayyads, Ibn Isfand¯ ar ıy¯ continues, Ab¯ Muslim ordered his k¯tib, one Abdalham¯ who was also his dab¯r, to write a book u a ı . ıd, narrating his exploits. The latter, who was a master of this art, accomplished the task, adding to it many fantastic elements (ghar¯yib) and including all the shortcomings and internal and external a states of affairs ( ujr o bujr). Once ﬁnished, the book was so bulky that two men were needed in order to lift it. Ab¯ Muslim, however, was not pleased with the account as Abdalham¯ had u . ıd portrayed it, and so with an axe, he destroyed it and ordered the k¯tib to rewrite it. After swearing a allegiance to Mansur, Ibn Isfand¯ ar continues, Ab¯ Muslim was given permission to return to Khuıy¯ u .¯ r¯s¯n. Shortly thereafter, however, Mansur regretted this decision and ordered the latter to return. aa .¯ Ab¯ Muslim had already passed Hulw¯n when the messenger of Mansur reached him in Rayy. He u a . .¯ thus left his treasury, together with his representative (n¯yib) Sunb¯d in Rayy, and returned to the a a caliph. Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 166–167. ıy¯ 1813 We will discuss Sunb¯d’s revolt in greater detail in §6.4 below; for an elaboration on the signifa icance of treasure in this context, see §6.4.1. 1814 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 174. ıy¯ 1815 de Goeje, III, 120; Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 5, pp. 481–482. ır
1812 In

1811 For

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§4.5: K HURSHID S HAH C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

remain mounted on his horse. Tus reminded Sunb¯d that he was a cousin of a .¯ Khursh¯ and that Sunb¯d’s behavior was unbecoming and disrespectful. Sunıd a b¯d responded with even more arrogance, at which point Tus beheaded him a .¯ for all this arrogance.1816 The ispahbud Khursh¯ is portrayed by Ibn Isfand¯ ıd ıy¯r as being agitated and saddened over Tus’s behavior and to have cursed the a .¯ latter. Nevertheless, he conveniently seized the wealth that Sunb¯d had coma mitted to his safe-keeping, and sent the head of Sunb¯d to the caliph Mansur. a .¯ Signiﬁcantly, as we will see later,1817 here Ibn Isfand¯ ar reiterates the story of ıy¯ the power and the arrogance of the sp¯hbed K¯rin. a a 4.5.3 Khursh¯ death and the ﬁnal conquest of Tabarist¯n ıd’s a .

Mansur subsequently asked for the treasures of Ab¯ Muslim and Sunb¯d, but u a .¯ Khursh¯ denied possessing them. This, however, brought him into direct conıd ﬂict with the caliphate.1818 In a series of correspondences with Mansur, Khur.¯ sh¯ ﬁnally agreed to pay the central administration the yearly khar¯j (taxes) ıd a of Tabarist¯n, as it had been calculated in the period of the ak¯sirih, that is to a a . say, at the end of the Sasanian period. It is not clear what exactly had forced Khursh¯ to have a turnabout in his dealings with the caliphate. Whatever it ıd was, it was not deemed enough, for Mansur, having seen the khar¯j of Tabarisa .¯ . t¯n, became greedy and concocted a ruse to conquer Tabarist¯n.1819 He had his a a . son Mahd¯ from his residence in Rayy, send a messenger to the ispahbud Khurı, sh¯ to ask his aid in ﬁghting Abd al-Jabb¯r Abdalrahm¯n, who had rebelled ıd a . a in Khur¯s¯n. In his message, he asked permission for part of his army to pass aa through Tabarist¯n, under the excuse that, as that year was a year of drought, a . sustenance of the entire army could not be provided if they were all to proceed from a single road. Once the messenger, whose name is not given, but who is said to have been one of the sons of the ajam, had reached Khursh¯ court, the ıd’s zeal of the ajam (hamiyat-i ajamiyat) forced him to warn Khursh¯ of Mansur’s ıd . .¯ ruse. Khursh¯ however, was suspicious of the messenger and refused to give ıd, him an audience, at which point the messenger proclaimed that Fate had ordained that “all this pomp and bounty, together with the kingdom and ediﬁce,” should be shattered.1820 Mahd¯ therefore sent an army under the command of Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ Umar ı u . ıb b. al- Al¯ ,1821 from the direction of Z¯rim and Ab¯ Awn b. Abdalmalik from a a u ¯

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Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 174. ıy¯ §6.4.4. 1818 Mar ash¯ 1966, pp. 12–14; Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 174–175. ı ıy¯ 1819 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 175. ıy¯ 1820 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 175. ıy¯ 1821 This Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ “had at one time killed someone in Gurg¯n and had taken refuge with u a . ıb the ispahbud [Khursh¯ and for a long while had accumulated property with his [i.e., Khursh¯ ıd], ıd’s] support in the region, and had come to know the terrain of the territory. But, later, he had joined forces with the army of the caliph.” Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 176: ıy¯
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C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN §4.5: K HURSHID S HAH

the direction of Gurg¯n to the region. Khursh¯ not suspecting the caliph, a ıd, had withdrawn his forces and relocated the population so as to ensure that they would not be harmed by the Arab army passing through the region. Before he ¯ realized it, it was too late. Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ conquered Amul, made it his capital u . ıb and called the population into submission. On account of the oppression that they ostensibly had experienced under Khursh¯ and in order to maintain their ıd, property and possessions, one “group after another . . . the population accepted Islam.”1822 For two years and seven months the army of Islam stayed in the region and constructed houses,1823 until Khursh¯ together with 50,000 men ıd, set out against them. The spread of cholera at this point was apparently a major ¯ factor in the defeat of the forces of Khursh¯ At the defeat of the Al-i J¯ıd. a m¯spid Khursh¯ the Muslims were preoccupied with the transfer of booty for a ıd, a whole week (haft shab¯nr¯z m¯l naghl m¯kardand). Including in these were a u a ı the daughters of Khursh¯ with beauty as “that of the moon.” One was given ıd to Abb¯s b. Muhammad al-H¯shim¯ and named Ummat al-Rahm¯n, and the a a ı . . a other was given to the caliph. The sons of Khursh¯ were equally renamed ıd from Hormozd, Vand¯d Hormozd, and D¯dmihr, to Ab¯ H¯r¯n ¯ a, M¯s¯, a a u a u Is¯ u a and Ibr¯h¯ respectively. The rest of the haram was equally divided between a ım the caliph’s sons and relatives. The ispahbud Khursh¯ declaring that “after this ıd, there is no inclination to life and joy, and death is the very solace and respite itself,” allegedly committed suicide by taking poison. Thus ends the history of ¯ the house of the Sasanian Al-i J¯m¯sp in Tabarist¯n. According to Ibn Isfand¯ a a a ı. y¯r, the “kingship of J¯ J¯ ansh¯h to that of Khursh¯ and his death was 119 a ıl-i ıl¯ a ıd years.”1824 “The ﬁrst governor on behalf of the Abb¯sids,” Ibn Isfand¯ ar maintains, a ıy¯ was Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ and “the ﬁrst construction that the Muslims made was the j¯mi u a . ıb, mosque of S¯r¯, in the year 144 of hijra.” Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ remained the governor aı u . ıb of the region for two years. After him Ab¯ Khuzaymah was sent, who also u ruled for two years and “massacred many of the elite from among the Mazdeans (vuj¯h o a y¯n-i gabrak¯n), until they sent Ab¯ ’l- Abb¯s Tus¯ who set up armed u a a u a . ¯ ı, camps (mas¯lih) as follows.”1825 Ibn Isfand¯ ar then proceeds to list 45 camps, a ıy¯ together with the number of, presumably, armed men settled in them.1826 A
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1824 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 177. If we put Khursh¯ ıy¯ ıd’s death two and a half years after that of Sunb¯d, sometime in 757–758, then calculating backwards, we get the putative date 638–639 for J¯ a ıl-i J¯ ansh¯h’s inception of rule, which tallies quite well with our previous estimate of 630s. ıl¯ a 1825 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 178. ıy¯ 1826 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 178–181. ıy¯

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§4.5: K HURSHID S HAH C HAPTER 4: TABARISTAN

total of 29,100 men and (and women and children [?]) are listed here, the smallest armed camp having a population between two and three hundred, the average one 500, and the larger ones, between 1,000 and 1,500. It must be noted that there is no certainty that all of these settlers were of Arab ancestry or even Muslims. While some are speciﬁcally maintained to be Arabs, the population of other camps are called respectively Tus¯ Tabar¯ 1827 Khur¯s¯n¯ Syrian, Khuıs, a a ıs, . ¯ ıs, . r¯s¯n¯ from Nis¯ and Ab¯ a a ıs a ıvard, and men from Sughd, Khw¯razm, Nis¯ and a a Ab¯ ıvard.1828 Other regional armies, the ethnic dimension of which is not speciﬁed, included those of Jazira, Damascus and N¯ ap¯r, for example.1829 Two ısh¯ u camps belonging to Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ Umar b. al- Al¯ with no other population u a . ıb listed, are also mentioned. In one of these the governor is said to have resided, and “the population ( avv¯m) visited it believing him to be a Companion of the a Prophet.”1830 This, therefore, constituted the beginning of a systematic colonization of Tabarist¯n by the Muslims. a . Our narrative of the history of the Sasanians in the late antique period will not be complete, however, unless we turn our attention to a whole different dimension of this history, namely, the spiritual landscape of the Sasanians and their subjects.1831 For as we shall see in this second part of our study, the agnatic structure of Sasanian society entailed that the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav dichotomy also replicated itself in the spiritual realm.1832 Furthermore, the whole series of revolts that erupted in the Pahlav dominions at the inception of the Abb¯sid a revolution cannot be properly understood before we have undertaken this analysis.1833

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Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 179. ıy¯ Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 180. ıy¯ 1829 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 179. ıy¯ 1830 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 179 and 180 respectively. ıy¯ 1831 For while during the past two decades, specialists in the ﬁeld have made tremendous inroads in their assessment of Sasanian religious history, the non-specialist’s perspective on this history continues to be informed by the Christensenian thesis. In what follows we shall attempt not only to give a synopsis of recent research in the ﬁeld, but also to put forth our own analysis. 1832 See Chapter 5, especially §5.3.3. 1833 See Chapter 6.
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Religious Currents

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CHAPTER 5

Sasanian religious landscape

5.1

Post-Avestan period

characterized by a F landscape wasinclinations. Duringremarkably heterogeneous medley of beliefs and spiritual what Mary Boyce has termed the post-

or a long period prior to the advent of the Sasanians, the Iranian religious

Avestan period,1834 spanning from the end of the fourth century BCE to the early third century CE, and corresponding to the Seleucid and Arsacid dynasties,1835 the authorities did not seek to impose centralized control over religious matters and so conditions were set for the development of regional variations in the spiritual landscape of Iran.1836 While the Avestan communities seem to have retained only a vague memory of the birthplace of Zoroaster1837 in some distant place in northeastern Iran, for example, it seems to have been during this postAvestan period that local traditions concerning the birthplace of the prophet were advanced in the Zoroastrian communities of various regions in Iran. As
1834 Unless otherwise noted the following discussion is indebted to Boyce, Mary, Zoroastrianism: Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour, Costa Mesa, 1992 (Boyce 1992), p. 10. 1835 For the Seleucids, see footnote 75; for the Arsacids, see §1.1. 1836 After Alexander’s conquest, “when the priests of each province rallied from the carnage and destruction of the conquest, they pursued, it seems, independent courses, maintaining only fraternal links with one another.” Boyce 1979, p. 79. The regionalism fostered during the Seleucid and Arsacid periods also affected the development of the regional Aramaic scripts in the courts of various provinces. This development, in turn, led to the formation of distinctive scripts in all of the main provinces. Some of the known versions of these scripts are Parthian, Middle Persian, Median, Sogdian and Khwarezmian. The reign of Narseh (293–302) seems to have been the last period in which the Sasanians used the Parthian language in their ofﬁcial inscriptions. Thereafter they presumably attempted to impose Persian “as the sole ofﬁcial language throughout Iran, and forbade altogether the use of written Parthian.” Nevertheless, the fact that “a few short private inscriptions in Parthian language and script have been found on rock-faces in southern Khorasan, that is, within the territory of Parthia proper” seems to indicate that this language was still patronized in territories under dynastic Parthian control, even though among the aforementioned inscriptions “it is thought that none is later than the fourth century.” Boyce 1979, pp. 80 and 116. See, however, our discussion on page 460. 1837 For the latest work on the ongoing controversy on the date of Zoroaster, see Kingsley, Peter, ‘The Greek Origin of the Sixth-Century Dating of Zoroaster’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 37, (1990), pp. 245–265 (Kingsley 1990), who, by one reckoning, has put the notion of a sixth-century BCE date for Zoroaster to rest.

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with other aspects of Iranian social history, the topographical landscape of Iran facilitated centrifugal tendencies in the Iranian religious landscape. Regional communities came to vie with each other over claims to precedence and sanctity in Zoroastrian history. The Atropateneans, the S¯ anis, the Bactrians, and ıst¯ ﬁnally the Medes, each co-opted the long-forgotten legends of the birthplace of Zoroaster into the traditions of their localities.1838 There was besides these the religious tradition of Pers¯ which pitted itself sometimes against Atropatene ıs, (Azarb¯yj¯n), sometimes against Parthava.1839 The post-Avestan period also a a gives testimony to religious practices that had remained outside the Mazdean fold. Chief among these was demon-worship (dev-worship), a practice that continued to haunt the coalescing Zoroastrian clergy well into the Sasanian period. The ancient Indo–Iranians believed both in beneﬁcent gods and spirits and a number of hostile supernatural beings and malignant spirits. At some point in their history however, they parted ways, leading to the well-known inversion of the Indo–Iranian gods, the da¯vas, into the “principal agents of evil . . . [whom e Zoroaster conceived] as adverse gods” and target of his denunciation.1840 It was a hallmark of Zoroaster’s teaching, or those propagated by his followers, that demons and malignant creatures, as well as their worshippers, “all followers of Drug, falsehood, became ever more sharply contrasted with divine beings.” Angra Mainyu (Ahr¯ ıman) became the creator of these demonic creatures.1841 Despite this, the post-Avestan period continued to breed evil-worship. In the Zoroastrian confession of faith, the Fravar¯n¯, the recantation of demons forms a e one of the central dogmas of the faith.1842 In the Videvd¯d (The Law against a Demons, Vendidad), besides Nasu, the Demon of Death, several other demons, including Indra, are listed.1843 Pahlavi literature, most of which reﬂects—besides its own milieu of production, that is, the late Sasanian and post-conquest period of Iranian history—ancient practices, is practically obsessed with these. The D¯e nkard, the encyclopedia of Mazdean knowledge, dating to the ninth or tenth century,1844 gives detailed evidence of the rites of dev-worshippers, of how they
1992, p. 10. 1961, pp. 79–80. 1840 According to Yarshater, it is not possible to determine with certainty the phases of this development in terms of time, or to say how much of it was due to Zoroaster’s reform. From the G¯th¯s a a it appears that some Iranian tribes worshipped da¯vas or practiced their propitiation. Yarshater, e Ehsan, ‘Iranian Common Beliefs and World-View’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), pp. 343–359, Cambridge University Press, 1983a (Yarshater 1983a), p. 347. 1841 Yarshater 1983a, p. 347. 1842 Yasna 1898, Yasna, vol. 31 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1898, translated by L.H. Mills (Yasna 1898), §12. 1843 See for instance Vendidad 1880, Vendidad, vol. 4 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1880, translated by James Darmesteter (Vendidad 1880), §19, 43–47; Yarshater 1983a, p. 347. 1844 While in its extant form the D¯nkard dates to the Islamic period, “it is apparent that the whole e work, with the exception of Books III and V, represents the religious knowledge available to an educated Mazdean during the Sasanian era.” Containing about one quarter of copious summaries of the Avestan Nasks (books), as well as chapters on Mazdean theology, moral precepts, the legend
1839 Eddy 1838 Boyce

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“prowled around in great secrecy,” kept their abode, “body and clothes in a state of ﬁlthiness and stench,” and of their “chanting services to the demons.”1845 The post-Avestan period also saw the establishment of Jewish and Christian communities in Iran. The legacy of tolerance during the Arsacid period seems to have provided a very favorable situation for the Jewish communities, so much so that the rise of the Sasanians occasioned fear and apprehension among the rabbis.1846 As for the Christian communities in Iran during the Arsacid period, it has been observed that “in view of the time necessary to establish even a fairly small community, Christian communities . . . [came to exist in Iran] from the beginning of the 2nd century [and that from this period onward] . . . these communities consolidated themselves by some form of organization.”1847 As “tolerance was used as a political principle, or merely because of religious indifference,” it has been argued furthermore that “the Parthian period was characterized by peace and quiet for non-Zoroastrian minorities.”1848 All are in agreement that the Arsacids, of whose actual religious beliefs and practices we have scant knowledge,1849 did little to impose an orthodoxy, whatever the nature of this might have been. And so in the post-Avestan period, the Iranian religious landscape came to be dominated by a bewildering array of religious beliefs and practices. This is a primary dimension of the post-Avestan religious landscape about which there is little disagreement in the scholarly community.1850
of Zoroaster, and other doctrinal matters, the D¯nkard is one of our most important sources of e the Mazdean religion. For the D¯nkard see, among others, Menasce, J.P. De, ‘Zoroastrian Pahlavi e Writings’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 1166–1196, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Menasce 1983), pp. 1170–1176. 1845 Dinkard 1911, D¯nkard: The Complete Text of the Pahlavi Dinkard, Bombay, 1911, translated e by D.M. Madan (Dinkard 1911), p. 219, 7–22, as quoted in Zaehner, R.C., Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma, New York, 1972 (Zaehner 1972), p. 53. 1846 Widengren, Geo, ‘The Status of the Jews in the Sasanian Empire’, Acta Iranica I, (1961), pp. 117–162 (Widengren 1961), pp. 124–125. 1847 Asmussen, J.P., ‘Christians in Iran’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 924–949, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Asmussen 1983), p. 928. 1848 Asmussen 1983, p. 928. 1849 Boyce, Mary, ‘Arsacids: IV. Arsacid Religion’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 540–541, New York, 1991b (Boyce 1991b). 1850 As Kreyenbroek maintains, “regional priesthoods enjoyed a large measure of independence during these [i.e., post-Avestan] periods.” Kreyenbroek, Philip G., ‘Spiritual Authority in Zoroastrianism’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 17, (1994), pp. 1–16 (Kreyenbroek 1994). While “the ideal of a hierarchically structured priesthood headed by a supreme pontiff was present in early Zoroastrianism, and while the local ratu presumably had extensive powers, there can have been no question [during the post-Avestan period] . . . of a Church united under an uninterrupted line of generally recognized authoritative pontiffs.” Kreyenbroek 1994, pp. 3–5. In the Pahlavi books of the Sasanian period the word dastwar (dast¯r) is used for rendering the Avestan ratu. Every believer u was expected to have a dastwar who guided him or her. The dastwar could delegate his authority to a priest under him, but he himself “had to recognize the authority of a superior dastwar.” Ibid., pp. 7–8. Choosing the right dastwar seems to have been of crucial importance for the “the teachings and judgments of various dastwars could differ materially from one another.” Ibid., p. 9. Emphasis mine. Three accepted teachings (ch¯shtag) are mentioned in a number of Pahlavi books which a the dastwar was expected to follow, but strong evidence suggests that “the limits of the dastwars’

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5.2
5.2.1

Orthodoxy – Heterodoxy

Two pillars: the monarchy and the clergy?

The incredible variety of religious practices that constituted the religious landscape of Iran in the post-Avestan period needs to be kept in mind in any appreciation of the subject during the Sasanian period. Until recently, our efforts in this direction were hampered by the long-established paradigm of church-state collaboration in Sasanian studies, and the concomitant theory that the Zoroastrian church, as the orthodox creed, had entrenched itself in Sasanian society. Both aspects of this theory had their base in the ideology promoted by the Sasanians themselves, an ideology that forcefully articulated itself only late in the Sasanian period but which justiﬁed itself in reference to the presumed practices of the ﬁrst Sasanian monarchs. A detailed articulation of it is contained in the famous late Sasanian document, the Testament of Ardash¯r, but attributed to the ı ﬁrst Sasanian king Ardash¯ I: “Know that kingship and religion are twins; one ır cannot exist without the other, for religion is the foundation of royalty and the king is the defender of religion.”1851 Up until recently, this image of a strong and forceful clerical tradition, which, in unison with the monarchy, and according to the ideology of the two pillars of the state, forced upon the believers a strict doctrinal spirituality, was received wisdom in Sasanian studies. More recent scholarship, however, has argued that this image reﬂects more the propagandistic endeavors of the clergy and the monarchy, articulated late in the Sasanian and early in the post-conquest period, than the reality of the religious landscape in Iran during the Sasanian period. It has even been suggested that the notion that “the early Sassanian Church . . . was dominated by the supremacy of the King of Kings . . . [and that] the ﬁrst steps for the foundation of a State Church” were taken during the reign of Ardash¯ I, was nothing but ır a conscious reconstruction of Sasanian history in later times. The very idea of royalty and religion as twins has been shown to be a literary theme of “regretted
authority was not always clearly delineated and the existence of the Teachings of equal validity . . . gave lower-ranking dastwars a considerable degree of independence.” Ibid., pp. 10–11. What is of practical importance for us, however, is that as long as this system “was based predominantly on an oral tradition, the practical limitations of such a tradition made it impossible for the highest authorities to control the teachings of local or regional dastwars, except when these were felt to pose a serious threat to the integrity of the faith or the unity of the Church.” Ibid., p. 13. Emphasis mine. This situation gave considerable authority to the local and regional dastwars over their followers. It is important to note that Kreyenbroek’s whole study is meant to argue the case for the inﬂuence that such a structure of religious authority, especially the roles of the dastwar and their disciples (h¯wisht), might have had a on the Muslim Iranian, especially Sh¯ ite Iranian attitude toward spiritual authority and the rise of ı the ulam¯, who are “the Islamic counterparts of the Zoroastrian dastwars.” Ibid., pp. 14–15. a 1851 The popular story of the life of the founder of the Sasanian dynasty, Ardash¯ I, and his rise to ır power, the Testament of Ardash¯r, was most probably written at the end of the Sasanian period. See ı Ardashir 1966, Testament of Ardaš¯r, vol. 254 of Journal Asiatique, pp. 46–90, 1966, translated by M. ı ır Grignaschi (Ardashir 1966), p. 70 and n. 10, translated and cited in Russell, James R., ‘Kart¯ and M¯n¯ A Shamanistic Model of their Conﬂict’, in Acta Iranica 30: Textes et Mémoires, Volume XVI, a ı: Papers in Honor of Professor Ehsan Yarshater, pp. 180–193, 1990a (Russell 1990a), p. 181; Menasce 1983, pp. 1187–1188.

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happy bygone mythical times . . . or the aspiration of an eschatological future,” developed not during the Sasanian period but in the later Islamic periods.1852 It has been argued convincingly, moreover, that the theories that seek to glorify “the task of the Sasanian kings in establishing a new Zoroastrian church structure and in creating a theocratic state adhering to the Zoroastrian faith” are but exaggerated views of a much more nuanced religio-political landscape.1853 The Sasanians did attempt to “gain control of the religious establishment by elevating certain priests to high positions, by using religious language and by making generous endowments for religious purposes, but the fusion of state and religion was probably a mere slogan, ﬂaunted by the kings in one direction and by the priests in another, rather than a reality.”1854 Propaganda, of course, is precisely that: the effort to reconstruct reality so as to give an image of factuality. There are a number of problems with the late Sasanian topos of the two pillars of the state. To begin with, and even granting some credibility to this topos, it has been observed that the Sasanian effort at creating the image of a national church, and a political ideology that postulated the monarchy’s cooperation with the clergy, does not necessarily mean that the monarchical–clerical relationship was always characterized by harmony and close cooperation. On the contrary, the insistence upon an alliance between the throne and altar that infuses the Sasanian national ideology also gives “proof of the opposite: it states an ideal need, it is the reﬂection of an ideology and not of a historical reality.”1855 Scholars of Sasanian history are generally unanimous in observing that political expediency and not adherence to any particular religious dogma dictated the Sasanian monarchs’ relationship vis-à-vis other faiths through most of their history. This can be observed in the Sasanian kings’ relationships toward the Jewish and Christian minorities within their realms.1856 As far as the state’s relationship with the national church was concerned, moreover, a close scrutiny of the sources reveals that it was as often, and perhaps more often, characterized by belligerence than congeniality. As Gnoli has observed, it is “in terms of forces not always allied and often opposed, that the question of relations between the Church and the State should be considered.”1857 All this is evident in Sh¯p¯r I’s (241–272) initial predilection a u toward M¯n¯ 1858 Yazdgird I’s (399–420) amicable relations with the Christians, a ı,
1852 Although the theme itself can be found in the ancient Indo–Iranian mythology of the twins, the ﬁrst king (Yemo) and the ﬁrst priest (Manu). Gnoli 1989, pp. 138–139, n. 13. 1853 Shaked, Shaul, Dualism in Transformation: Varieties of Religion in Sasanian Iran, vol. 16 of Jordan Lectures in Comparative Religion, London, 1994a (Shaked 1994a), p. 1. 1854 Shaked 1994a, p. 2. 1855 Gnoli 1989, p. 165. 1856 Asmussen 1983, p. 933. See also §5.2.8 below. 1857 Gnoli 1989, p. 169. 1858 According to the D¯nkard, when Sh¯p¯ r I attempted to collect the “writings from the Religion e a u which had been dispersed [presumably by Alexander]”, he also gathered treaties on “medicine, astronomy, movement, time, space, substance, creation, becoming, passing away, change in quality, growth (?), and other processes and organs. These he added to (?) the Avesta.” Boyce observes that

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Qub¯d’s (488–531) initial support of Mazdak, and ﬁnally the belligerent relaa tionship of Hormozd IV (579–590) with the Zoroastrian clergy, all of which are only the most acute examples of a volatile relationship.1859 In assessing church– state relations during the Sasanian period it is also prudent to remember that the history of the Zoroastrian church as a monarchy-independent, hierarchically organized church dates only to the ﬁfth century CE, a factor that brings us to the notion of a monolithic Mazdean orthodoxy. As Bausani has observed, “recent studies have progressively complicated the religious panorama of pre-Islamic Iran, showing that we are not dealing—as some believed when these studies started in Europe—with one Iranian religion, but with various religions or types of religiosity characteristic of one or another branch of the Iranian family.”1860 Besides the religious practices that fell outside the Mazdean fold during the Sasanian period, therefore, we have to reckon with the fact that as the names of the months and days, as well as on coins, crowns, and reliefs of the Sasanian kings bear witness, “Mazdaism was not restricted to the cult of Mazda and the beneﬁcent immortals [Amahraspands].”1861 Besides Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ (Ormozd), one may mention three other important gods worua a shipped during the Sasanian period: Mihr (Mithra),1862 An¯hit¯,1863 and Baha a r¯m (Wahr¯m).1864 While many Sasanian kings were invested by Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, a a ua a many others received their investiture from other gods.1865 To give but one example, a new interpretation of the controversial investiture scene of Sh¯p¯r II a u at T¯q-i Bust¯n argues convincingly that not only Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ but also Mithra a a ua a is depicted in the relief bestowing Divine Glory on the king.1866 The notion that Sasanian Mazdeism was not a monolithic bloc is corroborated by the fact that it is precisely to non-Mazdean sources that we have to resort in order to get a sense of the complexity of the religious landscape of

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the “Avesta to which these foreign writings were added was plainly the Zand, that is the Middle Persian translation with its glosses and commentaries.” Boyce 1979, p. 113. 1859 Gnoli 1989, p. 169. 1860 Bausani, Alessandro, Religion in Iran: From Zoroaster to Baha’ullah, New York, 2000, translated by J.M. Marchesi (Bausani 2000), p. 10. 1861 Duchesne-Guillemin, J., ‘Zoroasterian Religion’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 866–909, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Duchesne-Guillemin 1983), p. 902. The terms Mazdeism and Zoroastrianism will be used interchangeably as generic terms for the Iranian religion. 1862 See §5.3.1 below. 1863 Ar@dv¯ S¯ r¯ An¯hit¯ (Ardw¯ ur An¯h¯ ı ua a a ıs¯ a ıd), the Strong and Immaculate, was the goddess of the ¯ a waters (Ab¯n). Bier, C., Boyce, Mary, and Chaumont, M.L., ‘An¯h¯ in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), a ıd’, Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007 (Bier et al. 2007). 1864 For Bahr¯m, the god of Victory, see page 411 below. a 1865 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, pp. 902–903. Also see Soudavar, Abolala, The Aura of the Kings: Legitimacy and Divine Sanction in Iranian Kingship, vol. 11 of Bibliotheca Iranica, Intellectual Traditions Series, 1980 (Soudavar 1980), pp. 48–66. The author would like to express her deep gratitude to Mr. Soudavar for providing her with a copy of his excellent work, although she does reserve judgment about some of his arguments. 1866 Soudavar 1980, pp. 49–52 and nn. 121–129, as well as ﬁg. 46, p. 158.

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Iran during the Sasanian period.1867 The Christian sources in fact often give us a picture of a Mazdeism more pre-occupied with what has been unfortunately termed nature worship, that of sun, ﬁre, and water, with Mihr and An¯hit¯ as a a the foremost deities, than with a moralizing Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ as the sole object ua a of worship. The worship of Mihr and An¯hit¯ in fact is even “documented by a a ofﬁcial iconography . . . which has no counterpart in subsequent Zoroastrian literature.” Add to this the worship of N¯na, Ba’al, and Nabu “or the bloody a worship of Lady An¯h¯ in Staxr . . . [and] compare all this with the picture of a ıd the Good Religion that is got, for instance, from the [D¯nkard, and] we become e aware that there is quite a considerable discrepancy” between later m¯badic proo paganda and actual practice.1868 5.2.2 Kird¯ ır

From the very beginnings of their reign the Sasanians had to contend with the multifarious religious landscape that they had inherited from the Arsacids. This much comes across clearly from the inscriptions of the Sasanian high priest Kird¯ 1869 which provide some of the earliest evidence at our disposal on the reır, ligious landscape of Sasanian society. Kird¯ who seems to have functioned ır, as a priest and eventually a high priest from the reign of the ﬁrst Sasanian monarch, Ardash¯ I (224?–241 CE), through the reign of Bahr¯m II (276–293), ır a was also one of the most proliﬁc Sasanian priests: he left his marks in four great inscriptions—more than most kings—intended for public display,1870 on rock carvings at Sar Mashhad (KSM), Naqsh-i Rostam (KNRm), Ka ba-i Zartusht (KKZ), and Naqsh-i Rajab (KKRb). In these, he recorded the “deeds of a powerful career and the multitude of titles he received from a succession of appreciative monarchs.”1871 Kird¯ inscriptions are a testimony to the efforts that he presumably underır’s took to establish orthodoxy not only in Iran but also “in the land of non-Iran reached by the horses and men of the King of Kings.”1872 In Iran, Kird¯ boasts ır of founding a number of Bahr¯m (Wahr¯m) ﬁres,1873 and of bringing the “many a a
1989, pp. 166–167. 1989, p. 165. 1869 For Kird¯ and a bibliography of the works on his inscriptions see Gignoux, Philippe, Les quaır tres inscriptions du mage Kird¯r: textes et concordances, vol. 9 of Studia Iranica, Fribourg-en-Brisgau, ı 1991c (Gignoux 1991c); and Malandra, W.W., ‘Review of Gignoux’s Les quatres inscriptions du mage Kird¯r’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 113, (1993), pp. 288–289, review of Gignoux 1991c ı (Malandra 1993). 1870 For the signiﬁcance of Kird¯ ır’s attempt at prominently displaying his inscriptions at venues intended for public consumption, see page 329 below. 1871 Russell 1990a, p. 181. The text of the Ka ba-i Zartusht (KKZ) inscription is the best preserved and was the last to be discovered in 1936. With some variations, the inscriptions seem to consist of identical texts. For an attempt at dating these, see Gignoux 1983; Gignoux 1991c, pp. 45–48, 53–73. 1872 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 878. 1873 Three kinds of ﬁres have been distinguished during the Sasanian period: the Atakhsh Warahr¯n ¯ a ¯ a (Bahr¯m ﬁres), a general category called Atakhsh without particularization, and a third kind named twrlwk. These are thought to resemble the categories of ﬁres still existing among the Parsis in
1868 Gnoli 1867 Gnoli

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who held the doctrines of the demons” over to “the worship of gods.” He speaks of destroying images, which are the adversary of the Bahr¯m ﬁres, and estaba lishing in their stead said ﬁres.1874 As Boyce points out, however, the Sasanian campaign of active iconoclasm was long drawn out. For “cases involving the removal of statues still occur in the sixth-century law book, the M¯dig¯n-i Haz¯r a a a D¯dest¯n.”1875 As for dev-worship, even Boyce admits that it appears “in fact to a a have persisted in certain remote regions (notably mountainous parts of Sogdia) down to the time of the Islamic conquest.” One, therefore, is not entitled, argues Boyce, to infer from the evidence that “the early Sasanians succeeded all at once in sweeping an Aegean stable clean.”1876 Besides subduing sectarians, Kird¯ also boasts of persecuting members of ır minority religions such as the “Jews, Buddhists and Brahmans and Aramaic and Greek-speaking Christians and Baptizers and Manicheans.”1877 Kird¯ ır’s words resemble those of another high priest of the early Sasanian period, Tansar (Tosar), whose testimonies have come down to us in a redacted form in a sixth century document known as the Letter of Tansar.1878 It has been cogently argued, however, that the generally held view of the Sasanians as the patrons of a systematizing and orthodox Zoroastrian church, the rigorous Sasanian political and religious propaganda, with its archaizing dimensions, in fact the very workings of this attempt at uniformity—as reﬂected for example in the testimonies of the high priest Kird¯ and the Letter of Tansar—are perhaps more a reﬂection ır of the uncertainty of the times and the Sasanian struggle with religio-political issues than a genuine reﬂection of the actual state of affairs. As Shaked observes, “[t]he violence unleashed from time to time against . . . [Manicheism and Christianity] is proof enough of the feeling of insecurity on the part of the majority religion, and probably also of the fascination which these alternative modes of piety offered to many Zoroastrian believers.”1879
India. The “word ¯taxš appears . . . to be largely interchangeable with its cognate ¯dur.” Boyce, a a Mary, ‘On the Sacred Fires of the Zoroastrians’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 31(1), (1968), pp. 52–68 (Boyce 1968), pp. 58, 52–54, and 59 respectively. Boyce also maintains that “Wikander [Wikander, Stig, Feuerpriester in Kleinasien und Iran, Lund, 1946 (Wikander 1946), ¯ ¯ 104f.], may well be right in his contention that ﬁre names with the element Adur instead of Atakhsh belong to an older tradition; but the MHD [i.e., the sixth-century law book, the M¯dig¯n-i a a Haz¯r D¯dest¯n] passages do not bear out his general thesis that there was an attempt in Sasanian a a a ¯ times to avoid the use of Adur and words compounded with it.” Boyce 1968, p. 59, n. 48. The three ¯ ¯ ﬁres of Adhar Gushnasp, Adhar Farnbagh, and Burz¯ Mihr were all Bahr¯m ﬁres. For these three ın a ﬁres, see respectively pages 362, 363, and 364 below, as well as Gyselen 2003. 1874 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, pp. 878–879. 1875 The iconoclasm of the Sasanians, as Boyce points out, was only directed against the use of cult statues, “for they themselves continued to represent the yazatas of Zoroastrianism, including Ohrmozd, in anthropomorphic fashion.” In fact, the iconography of the Arsacid period continued throughout the Sasanian reign. Boyce 1979, p. 107. 1876 “Iran was too vast a country, and open to too many currents of belief, for the state religion ever to obliterate all other creeds.” Boyce 1979, p. 115. Emphasis added. 1877 Boyce 1992, p. 142. 1878 See §2.5.2 for a more detailed discussion of the Letter of Tansar. 1879 Shaked, Shaul, ‘Quests and Visionary Journeys in Sasanian Iran’, in Jan Assmann and Guy G.

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The literary topos of a religious and philosophical quest, which was current during this period, provides an apt reﬂection of the times. In this literature the central and recurring motif is that of an individual who travels the world and observes the tenets of different faiths in search of wisdom and the ability to ascertain the truth behind the plurality of creeds. The D¯dist¯n i M¯a a e nog Khrad,1880 the Shkand Gum¯n¯k Viz¯r,1881 the works of M¯n¯ and ﬁnally a ı a a ı, the autobiographical sketch by Bozorg-Mehr contained in the introduction to the Arabic Kal¯la wa Dimna,1882 all exhibit an acute awareness of the pluralı ity of faiths, and the admission that no single faith can be considered to have a monopoly on the ultimate spiritual Truth.1883 Another phenomenon examined by Shaked is the popular currency of undertaking an internal journey, a journey undertaken to the other world to obtain ﬁrm faith.1884 Kird¯r’s journey to the hereafter ı Perhaps the most extraordinary testimony to the uncertainty of the times in spiritual matters is contained in the work of the same ﬁgure whose purported endeavors to establish Zoroastrian orthodoxy have gained him infamy in Sasanian studies, namely the high priest Kird¯ As Shaked observes, the contents of ır. Kird¯ journey, which appear on monuments placed on highways—and thus ır’s present personal reﬂections that are meant to serve a public aim—cannot be deciphered in detail, due to unfamiliar terminology as well as poor preservation. Nonetheless, they provide a fascinating clue to the doubt and anxiety felt about the hereafter by a ﬁgure who had achieved infamy as the persecutor of heterodoxy and minority faiths in the nascent Sasanian empire. In these inscriptions, Kird¯ is depicted undertaking a journey to the hereafter in order ır to bring back reports concerning Heaven and Hell. He is represented by a ﬁgure in his likeness and is accompanied by a woman, “probably representing his own self (an idea that in other texts is known by the term D¯n).”1885 Along e the way Kird¯ sees deadly persons in different scenes.1886 While the details of ır Kird¯ journey are not very clear, their intent seems obvious: the “inscriptions ır’s [reﬂect] the doubt and anxiety felt about the hereafter.” The high Zoroastrian
Stroumsa (eds.), Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions, pp. 65–86, Leiden, 1999 (Shaked 1999), pp. 66–67. 1880 Menog 1884, D¯dist¯n i M¯nog Khrad, vol. 24 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University a a e Press, 1884, translated by E.H. West (Menog 1884). 1881 Vizar 1882, Shkand Gum¯n¯k Viz¯r, vol. 18 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, a ı a 1882, translated by E.W. West (Vizar 1882). 1882 Ibn al-Muqaffa , Abdull¯h, Kal¯la wa Dimna, Beirut, 1947, edited by P. Louis Cheiko (Ibn a ı al-Muqaffa 1947). For the possible identiﬁcation of Bozorg-Mehr with the K¯rinid D¯dmihr, see a a page 114. 1883 Shaked 1999, p. 67–71. Boyce 1979, p. 136. 1884 See also Bausani 2000, pp. 26–27. 1885 This idea of having a twin is also attested in Manicheism where M¯n¯ is said to have received a ı his revelation from a spirit twin. It is not unique to Manicheism either for “men and gods all [were thought to have] had them.” See Russell 1990a. 1886 Shaked 1999, pp. 72–73.

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priest of the early Sasanian period “feels the need to achieve a vision of [the hereafter] through piety and good deeds and report what he has seen for the ediﬁcation of his contemporaries and the following generations.”1887 Through the picture that is presented by Kird¯ in fact, one can grasp the potential comır, plexity of the religious scene during the Sasanian period, a complexity reﬂected in a religious panorama in which a variety of Zoroastrian religions are competing with Judaism, Christianity, Manicheism, not to mention Buddhism and various Gnostic sects. The currency of the idea of a spiritual journey during the period under consideration is also evidenced in the accounts on M¯n¯ experia ı’s ence, where this third century Mazdean heretic is said to have been “not only in contact with the spirit world in an intimate way; [but also] to have travelled there and taken others with him.”1888 The prevalence of visionary journeys, however, was not conﬁned to the early Sasanian period. The Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma (The Book of the Righteous W¯a ıa a ı r¯z)1889 exhibits a similar concern with the ability of select individuals to una dertake a journey into the hereafter and view the invisible world, m¯n¯g.1890 e o Only select individuals, after preparation—usually in the form of taking a dose of mang (hemp mixed with wine)—were able to undertake it. The journey was fraught with danger. After all, one journeyed to the realm of the dead and experienced temporary death as a result.1891 It is important to note that, as Shaked observes, the “vision of [m¯n¯g] comes up again and again in Pahlavi literature.” e o One striking feature of the Pahlavi and early Islamic literature is that they are in fact “practically obsessed with descriptions of visions of the hereafter. To the classical monument of visionary experience, the Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma, one could a ıa a add the opening chapters of the book of the Spirit of Wisdom [D¯dist¯n i M¯nog a a e Khrad] . . . and visions of the Amahraspands [which] are alluded to quite frequently in the Pahlavi books, together with the discussion of the possibility of seeing [m¯n¯g], or the organ which is set aside for this kind of vision, the eye of e o the soul.”1892
1999, p. 73. Russell 1990a, p. 184, where he outlines the shamanistic nature of Kird¯ voyage and ır’s argues for such a probability also in M¯n¯ case. a ı’s 1889 Arda Wiraz 1999, Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma, Tehran, 1999, translated by Mihrdad Bahar (Arda Wiraz a ıa a 1999). 1890 Gignoux maintains that this “scene of piety troubled by religious uncertainty seems to be set some time after the fall of the Achaemenid empire; but the ﬁnal redaction of the text probably refers to the early Islamic period.” Gignoux, Philippe, ‘Ard¯ W¯ az’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), a ır¯ Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 356–357, New York, 1991a (Gignoux 1991a), p. 357. 1891 For a further discussion of the Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma, see §6.3.1. a ıa a 1892 Shaked 1994a, p. 46. It must be noted, however, that some controversy seems to exist as to whether or not one can consider Kird¯ vision, as well as those in the Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma, visionır’s a ıa a ary experiences, a claim which apparently would imply shamanistic tendencies in Iranian religions. Opposition to this view is expressed by W. Malandra, who maintains that “the existence of anything like shamanism for ancient Iranian religions remains, at the very best, a weak hypothesis.” Malandra 1993. Kird¯ it has been maintained, “never really had a vision; instead matters concernır, ing the fate of the departed are reported by mediums.” See Gignoux 1991c, p. 289, and Skjærvø, O., ‘Kirdir’s Vision: Translation and Analysis’, Archälogische Mitteilungen aus Iran 16, (1983), pp. 296–
1888 See 1887 Shaked

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M¯n¯ a ı It is not incidental, in the framework of religious developments in this period, or as far as the religious history of Iran is concerned, that the same period during which the Sasanian priest Kird¯ was active, was also the heyday of the ır heretic M¯n¯ Neither is it incidental that throughout the reign of Sh¯p¯r I a ı. a u (241–272), both Kird¯ and M¯n¯ vied for the inﬂuence with the king, in one ır a ı instance both accompanying him on his military expeditions. According to one tradition, M¯n¯ was not only present at the coronation of Sh¯p¯r I in 241 CE, a ı a u but also delivered his ﬁrst speech on that occasion.1893 During Sh¯p¯r I’s reign, a u Manicheans were given full liberty to proselytize, with M¯n¯ himself spending a a ı “long time in the royal suite.”1894 M¯n¯ also made extensive missionary trips to a ı the east.1895 Colpe attributes Sh¯p¯r I’s support for M¯n¯ to the “preservation a u a ı of an Iranian frame of doctrine” in his ideas, and his later persecution to a sudden change in his doctrines.1896 Those who claim Zurvanism1897 to have been a heretical Mazdean theology1898 even consider the age of Sh¯p¯r I to have a u been dominated by it. There is also anecdotal evidence that Sh¯p¯r I “must a u obviously have been inﬂuenced by sorcerers or devil-worshippers.”1899 Hormozd I’s yearlong rule (272–273) saw Kird¯ rise to power. His rank ır’s catapulted from that of ¯rpat (herbad), which “implies no superiority over sube ordinates,” to that of magupat (m¯bad), chief of the magi.1900 On Hormozd o I’s coins, therefore, Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ takes the place of Mithra and An¯hit¯. Kirua a a a d¯ control over state affairs had become such that, according to some, he ır’s was probably responsible for the accession of Bahr¯m I (273–276) to the throne a instead of the elder brother of Hormozd I, Narseh (293–302). He seems to have enjoyed tremendous power at Bahr¯m I’s court, so much so that the King a “delivered M¯n¯ into his [i.e., Kird¯ hands. M¯n¯ died in prison and his relia ı ır’s] a ı gion was persecuted, which, according to one account, proves both the strength
306 (Skjærvø 1983). For the purposes of the present argument, however, whether or not Kird¯ ır’s experiences were visionary are not as relevant as the reﬂections that they give of his preoccupation with the hereafter. 1893 Zaehner 1972, p. 36. 1894 Zaehner 1972, p. 36. 1895 When the Manichean evangelizer Mar Ammo was dispatched to the east to preach there, he had a “difﬁcult interview with the local goddess who refused to let him in, saying she had enough religions to deal with already . . . [So] the missionary prayed before the Sun for two days.” Russell 1990a, p. 185. 1896 Colpe, Carsten, ‘Development of Religious Thought’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Colpe 1983). M¯n¯ persecution and death on the orders of Bahr¯m I (273–276) coincided a ı’s a with the alleged consolidation of the Zoroastrian church by Kird¯ ır. 1897 See §5.2.4. 1898 Zaehner 1972, passim. 1899 Zaehner 1972, pp. 34–36. Other deities also continued to be important during Sh¯p¯ r I’s reign, a u like the cult of An¯hit¯, over whose temple in Istakhr the reputed ancestor of the Sasanians, S¯s¯n, a a aa .. ¯ presided as a priest. Sh¯p¯r I, for example, called his daughter and queen Adur An¯h¯ “Fire . . . a u a ıd, An¯h¯ . . . a dvandva name, from the name of two deities.” Tabar¯ 1999, p. 4, n. 10. a ıd ı . 1900 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 880.

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of state religion and Kard¯r’s inﬂuence on the king of kings.”1901 It is signiﬁcant, e however, that this religious zealot of the early Sasanian period, who is said to have recklessly striven to “establish Zoroastrianism as a state religion at the expense of his opponent M¯n¯ while leaving numerous inscriptions “is not a ı,” mentioned among the outstanding religious personalities such as T¯sar/Tansar o ¯ (under Ardaš¯ I),1902 Aturp¯t/Adurb¯d-¯ Mahrspand¯n (under Š¯buhr II),1903 ır a ¯ a ı a a or Weh-Š¯buhr (under Husraw I) in the late Middle Persian literature; . . . even a in Manichean literature he is barely alluded to, let alone named, which is strange for someone who apparently had M¯n¯ sentenced to death under Wahr¯m I in a ı a 276 CE”1904 During the reign of Bahr¯m II (276–293), Kird¯ inﬂuence reached its apex. a ır’s His picture appears on the king’s reliefs at Naqsh-i Rajab (KKRb), Sar Mashhad (KSM), Naqsh-i Rostam (KNRm), and possibly at Barm-i Delak, the last being Bahr¯m II’s only investiture relief. A host of honoriﬁc titles, judge of the ema pire (adv¯npat), master of rites, and ﬁnally ruler (patikh¯y) of the ﬁre of An¯hite a a Ardash¯ at Stakhr and of Lady Anahit, are bestowed on Kird¯ by the king.1905 ır ır His power, at least of persuasion over the king, is said to have been such that for the ﬁrst time since the advent of the Sasanians, the “all-important ecclesiastical title [of ruler of An¯hit¯’s temple] became detached from the royal power.” a a In the inscriptions from the reigns of Bahr¯m II and Bahr¯m III (293), therea a fore, Kird¯ boasts, among other things, that through his efforts, the “affairs of ır Ohrmozd and the gods prospered; and the Mazdayasnian religion and the Magian hierarchy received great honor . . . [that] Ahriman and the demons were struck down(?) and their teaching was expelled from the empire . . . [that] Jews, Buddhists, Brahmans, two sorts of Christians [!], Manichees and Zand¯ks1906 ı were chastised . . . idols were destroyed and the dwellings of the demons undone(?) . . . [and that ﬁnally] ﬁres were established throughout the realm, and the Magians prospered.”1907 For all Kird¯ boastings, however, his claims to having subdued various ır’s
1901 Emphasis mine. Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 881. It has been argued, on the other hand, that even during Bahr¯m I’s reign, Kird¯ had a much more humble position than hitherto presumed. a ır For example, he still “had to follow the customary stages of appeal to get an audience with the king.” Huyse, Philip, ‘Kerd¯ and the First Sasanians’, in Nicolas Sims-Williams (ed.), Societas Iranologica ır Europaea: Proceedings of the Third European Conference of Iranian Studies, vol. I, Wiesbaden, 1999b (Huyse 1999b), pp. 117–118, n. 55, and pp. 110–120, and the references cited therein. 1902 See §2.5.2. 1903 See §5.2.3. 1904 Huyse 1999b, pp. 109–110. Huyse also argues that while Sh¯p¯ r I’s inscriptions were most a u probably set up sometime between 260 and 262, Kird¯ inscriptions “were all written during the ır’s reign of Wahr¯m II (276–293), who is named in all four inscriptions.” It seems likely, though not a provable, therefore, Huyse argues, that all the inscriptions were set up toward the end of Bahr¯m a II’s life. All in all, a time gap of some thirty years between the engraving of Sh¯p¯r I’s (SKZ) and a u Kird¯ inscriptions (KKZ) on the Ka ba is quite “within the bounds of probability.” Ibid., p. 112. ır’s 1905 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 882. 1906 See §5.2.5. 1907 Zaehner 1972, p. 24, nn. 1–2. Also see Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 882.

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heresies bear witness in fact to the prevalence of these heresies during the third century. The spiritual panorama that they compose, furthermore, is as multifaceted as that which the Sasanians had inherited from the post-Avestan age. More than three-quarters of a century had passed since the inception of Sasanian power. Yet if the inscriptions of Kird¯ are any reﬂection of reality—they ır were, after all, cast in stone—the impression they give is that of a continuing heterogeneous religious landscape. As we have seen, the only doctrine of faith that is actually reﬂected in Kird¯ inscriptions at Sar Mashhad (KSM) and Naqsh-i Rajab (KKRb), is the belief ır’s in the hereafter.1908 It has been aptly observed that “this does not go very far to deﬁne Kard¯r’s position in relation to heresy.”1909 Signiﬁcantly, since Kird¯ exe ır presses himself “only in Middle-Persian, the language of Persis, not as the kings of the 3rd century, in Parthian, Middle Persian, and Greek,” he might have been promoting the religious tradition of Pers¯ over that of Sh¯ in Azarb¯yj¯n.1910 ıs ız a a After two decades of presumed monarchical–clerical cooperation, through the reigns of Hormozd I (272–273), Bahr¯m I (273–276), and Bahr¯m II (276–293), a a however, Narseh (293–302) comes to power, and we witness, once again, the emergence of the old gods. During his struggle for power under Bahr¯m II, a Narseh concentrated on reverting to the tradition of the ﬁrst Sasanians. His investiture relief at Naqsh-i Rostam features once again the goddess An¯hit¯. In an a a inscription that he left at Paikuli (NPi) in Kurdist¯n, Narseh, who had gained a the support of the cities in Mesopotamia for whom Kird¯ theocracy must not ır’s have been a welcome episode, claims to rule “in the name of Ohrmazd, of all the gods and of the Lady An¯hit¯.”1911 He reclaims, moreover, the title of the a a chief of the Stakhr temple which had remained within the Sasanian family from B¯bak’s time until Bahr¯m II had bestowed it on Kird¯ Thus all “the tema a ır. poral and spiritual power was again to be concentrated in the king’s hand.”1912 Narseh destroyed the recently acquired inﬂuence of the clergy over the monarchy in other ways too. He re-established contact with the Manicheans, giving an audience to their leader, Innaios, in consequence of which the persecution of the creed was suspended during his reign.1913 According to the Chronique de Seert, Christians too fared rather well under Narseh. His inscriptions, furthermore, “name Parthian as well as Persian nobles among his supporters, thus illustrating the drawing together of the two imperial peoples, begun under his father Shabuhr I.”1914 In short, for all the talk about the concerted effort of the clergy to gain control of the monarchy, and the Letter

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1983, p. 883. is the belief of Lukonin and there is a high probability that this was in fact the case. But as Duchesne–Guillemin observes, quite correctly, it still does not allow us to decipher the contents of Kird¯ orthodoxy. Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 883. ır’s 1911 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 884. Emphasis added. 1912 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 885. 1913 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 885. 1914 Boyce 1979, p. 116.
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of Tansar’s claims of monarchical–clerical cooperation, for the ﬁrst century of Sasanian rule, the claim can only be maintained for the period 272–293 CE, that is through the combined reigns of Hormozd I, Bahr¯m I, and Bahr¯m II. Dura a ing the short rule of Hormozd II (302–309), the persecution of the Manicheans recommenced and the Mazdean clergy came back into favor, although the king did not “molest the Christians.”1915 And as Hormozd II was invested by Mihr, one might suspect that the primacy of Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ was once again questioned ua a by this Sasanian king.1916 ¯ 5.2.3 Aturp¯t a Religious life during the long reign of Sh¯p¯r II (309–379) is dominated by the a u ¯ ﬁgure of Aturp¯t, son of Mahraspand, with whose help the king is said to have a taken further steps to consolidate the Mazdean creed. During his reign, for ex¯ ample, a council, presumably under the leadership of Aturp¯t, undertook the a task of establishing a deﬁnitive text of the Avest¯ in twenty-one nasks. In order a ¯ to establish their veracity, Aturp¯t underwent the ordeal of molten metal1917 a and thereby defeated, yet again, all kinds of sectarians and heretics. But the religious landscape of Sh¯p¯r II’s kingdom, through most of the fourth century, a u remained as heterogeneous as ever. The king reportedly introduced himself to emperor Constantius (337–361) as “partners with the stars, brother of the Sun and Moon.” In his Acts of Pusai, the martyr Pusai1918 gives evidence of the Zurvanite tendencies in the belief of the Magi.1919 The king also rekindled the dynasty’s ties with the local cult at Stakhr by founding a ﬁre to An¯hit¯.1920 a a Some scholars even date the initial appearance of the Mazdakite heresy to this ¯ period. Presumably, it was partly in opposition to this heresy that Aturp¯t una derwent his ordeal of ﬁre, and the ﬁrst attempts at a deﬁnition of an orthodox creed were undertaken.1921 Sh¯p¯r II’s reign marks one of the worst episodes a u
the Christians during the Sasanian period, see §5.2.8 below. 1983, p. 885. 1917 For the ordeal by ﬁre, see page 356ff. 1918 The Acts of Mar Pusai and his Daughter Martha contains two of the earliest hagiographies of Christian Persians, composed in the late fourth, early ﬁfth centuries. Pusai was a descendant of Roman captives who were settled in F¯rs under Sh¯p¯r II. Living “peacefully as a Christian under a a u Sasanian rule,” Pusai married a local woman, “taught her, baptized his children and raised and instructed them in Christianity.” Together with his family, and following Sh¯p¯r II’s orders, he a u was later moved to Karka de L¯d¯n, “the new royal foundation ﬁfteen kilometers north of Susa on e a the Karkeh river.” While achieving great honors in his new city, where he was appointed “head of the royal weavers’ guild, Pusai ultimately achieved martyrdom when he refused to betray the religion of his parents when interrogated by the chief mobad.” Walker, Joel Thomas, The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq, University of California Press, 2006 (Walker 2006), pp. 222–224. Also see Wiesehöfer, Josef, Ancient Persia: from 550 BC to 650 AD, London, 1996 (Wiesehöfer 1996), pp. 192–193. 1919 For Zurvanism, see §5.2.4 below. 1920 Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 886. 1921 For a discussion of this history, as well as a critical survey of the sources at our disposal for the study of the Mazdakite movement, see Yarshater, Ehsan, ‘Mazdak’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 991–1027,
1916 Duchesne-Guillemin 1915 For

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of persecution of Christians, especially in the northwest. But then his reign also coincided with the Byzantine emperor Constantine’s ofﬁcial recognition of Christianity. Sasanian scholars are almost unanimous, therefore, in connecting the two phenomena and in highlighting the purely political motives behind this attack on the Christian population of the empire, whom the Sasanians feared might form a ﬁfth column in their domains. In spite of his horriﬁc persecution of Christians, Syrian hagiographers tell us that Sh¯p¯r II was nevertheless a u personally interested in Christianity.1922 During Ardash¯ II’s reign (379–383), Persian ceased to be the sole language ır of the reliefs and inscriptions. This development, it has been argued, betrays the fact that the tradition of Pers¯ was no longer considered the dominant tradition ıs in the self-deﬁnition of the monarchy, which now sought to distance itself from the traditions of the Persian clergy. The god Mihr appeared on the investiture relief of the king standing on a lotus. This factor might indicate a further token of independence from the traditions of the Persian clergy.1923 The role that Yazdgird I (399–420) played in the religious affairs of the Sasanian polity is forever inscribed in his posthumous epithet of the Sinner, coined, most likely, not only by the clergy, but also by the Pahlav dynasts, as we have seen.1924 Yazdgird I “had a good reputation with the Christians, . . . [was] kind to the Jews” and married a Jewess.1925 Together with P¯ uz (459–484), he was ır¯ one of the ﬁrst Sasanian kings to adopt the title Kai, thus connecting the Sasanian dynasty to the mythical Kay¯nids.1926 The Kay¯nids were “extolled in the a a yašts of the Avesta.” It has been argued, consequently, that P¯ uz’s concoction ır¯ of a Kay¯nid ancestry also had a religious signiﬁcance, and that after him, the a importance of this part of the Avest¯ was emphasized, or even that the Avest¯ a a came to be recognized as the sacred text during this period.1927 In sum, despite the prevalent paradigm in Sasanian studies of an orthodox creed and the church-state confederacy, the available evidence points to a far more volatile and heterogeneous religious climate. Through the ﬁfth century, neither the monarchy nor the Mazdean clergy were able—even if they were so inclined—to impose a uniform orthodoxy. Nowhere is this borne out more clearly than in the socioreligious turmoil that engulfed the Sasanian realm by the late ﬁfth century and well into the ﬁrst half of the sixth century:

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Cambridge University Press, 1983c (Yarshater 1983c), p. 996. See also §5.2.7 below. 1922 See also §5.2.8. 1923 The lotus is said to have been a solar symbol imported from Egypt either directly or via Buddhist Gandhara. Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, pp. 888–889. 1924 See §2.2.2. 1925 For this and other religious developments during the ﬁfth century, see Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 890. 1926 For the Kay¯nids, see footnote 131; for the Kay¯nid pseudo-genealogy, see page 385. a a 1927 This is the thesis of Wikander 1946, with which Duchesne–Guillemin disagrees. DuchesneGuillemin 1983, p. 892. Once we have established the appropriate context, we will further discuss P¯ uz’s religious policies on page 385ff. ır¯

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the Mazdakite heresy.1928 It has been argued, in fact, that when Khusrow I (531–579) continued the persecution started by his father, Qub¯d (488–531), a “the Mazdakite upheaval happened to prepare, in a kind of argumentum ad absurdum, the advent of a strong state and of a deﬁnitively established Mazdean Church.”1929 The evidence in the D¯nkard, which is thought to be conteme poraneous with Khusrow I’s rule, together with that of the Sasanian Law Book M¯dig¯n-i Haz¯r D¯dest¯n, in fact, substantiates this: “His present majesty, King a a a a a of Kings, Khusrow I, son of Kav¯d, after he had put down irreligion and heresy a with the greatest vindictiveness according to the revelation of the Religion in the matter of all heresy, greatly strengthened the system of the four castes and encouraged precise argumentation, and in a diet [i.e., council] of the provinces he issued the following declaration: The truth of the Mazdayasnian religion has been recognized . . . What the chief Magians of Ohrmozd have proclaimed, do we proclaim . . . with high intent and in concert with the perspicacious, most noble, most honorable, most good Magian men, we do hereby decree that the Avesta and Zand be studied most zealously and ever afresh.” And further that: “One was to eradicate the teachings and practices of heretics from the realm of Iran by defeating them utterly; one, to put into practice the teachings of the word of Religion . . . in accordance with the teachings and practices of the dis¯ ciples of Aturp¯t, son of Mahraspand, who came from the province of Makr¯n; a a one, not to neglect in the provinces of Iran hospitality to holy men, the good care of beneﬁcent ﬁre, and the puriﬁcation of the good waters; one, to cause religion and learning to prosper by being exceedingly zealous . . . to propagate it widely . . . and jealously to withhold it from evil heretics; one, to increase in full measure the service and rites of the gods within the provinces of Iran and to smite, smash, and overthrow the idol-temples and disobedience [i.e., unorthodoxy] that comes from the Adversary and the demons.”1930 What is remarkable here is that for all the talk of monarchical–clerical cooperation in articulating an orthodoxy in prior centuries, neither the monarchy nor the clergy had been able to eradicate heterodoxies as late as Khusrow I’s reign. Other evidence from the D¯nkard further erodes the image of Khusrow I as the enforcer of a strict ore thodoxy. Khusrow I “was not impervious to Greek and Indian inﬂuences,” so that, ironically, his reign has been described as both orthodox and liberal.1931
a further discussion of the Mazdakites, see §5.2.7 below. 1983, p. 893. Emphasis mine. According to Gard¯ ı, after the destruction ız¯ of the Mazdakites, Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an told the populace to learn the precepts of religion so ırv¯ that they would become experts in it and when a Mazdakite appears, he could not sell his lies to them. Gard¯ ı 1984, p. 84: ız¯
1929 Duchesne-Guillemin
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1930 Dadestan 1993, M¯dig¯n-i Haz¯r D¯dest¯n, Rechtskasuistik und Gerichtspraxis zu Beginn des a a a a a siebenten Jahrhunderts in Iran, Wiesbaden, 1993, translated by M. Macuch (Dadestan 1993); as cited in Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 895. Emphasis added. 1931 Dadestan 1993 apud Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, pp. 894–895.

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What is even more signiﬁcant, however, is that whatever measures Khusrow I might have undertaken in support of a presumed orthodoxy and in cooperation with the clerical classes, these were reversed under his son, Hormozd IV (579– 590), who “did not govern with the support of the noblemen and the Magi.”1932 Hormozd IV married a Christian woman and prayed to the martyr St. Sergius, so that he was suspected of converting to Christianity. He superstitiously wore an amulet against death, and put an inordinate emphasis on astrology. By the time of Khusrow II Parv¯ (591–628), as a result, any remnants of an orthodox ız predisposition on the part of the monarchy, whatever their strength, must have been completely obliterated. The unsettled conditions of Iran after the death of Khusrow II Parv¯ when in the span of about four years about eight differız, ent monarchs came to the throne either consecutively, or simultaneously,1933 undermined any effort at a concerted religious policy on the part of the feeble Sasanian monarchs of the period. In short, as Gnoli argues, “Zoroastrianism never succeeded in imposing a spiritual supremacy that was not almost always challenged and in some periods turned out to be downright feeble.”1934 All this is not to say that the monarchy did not attempt to control the clergy, or that both were not preoccupied with establishing a deﬁnition of orthodoxy and heresy. To the contrary, in theory at least, the Sasanian monarchs gave themselves the prerogative of controlling the religious affairs of their realm as a matter of policy.1935 We have evidence of attempts at delineating the religious posture of an heretic. The Avest¯ itself testiﬁes to the existence of various kinds a of Zoroastrian heresies. The H¯m Yasht (Yasht 20), for example, deﬁnes an o aš@ma¯γa as “he who has the words of this religion in his memory, but does o ˙ not observe them in actions.”1936 In the D¯nkard, an ahlam¯γ ¯ nask ¯šmurd is e o ı o deﬁned as a “heretic who acknowledges the Nasks of the Avesta.” An ahlam¯γ ¯ o ı fr¯ft¯r, the worst heretic, is deﬁned as one “who distorts a precept as it has been e a taught by the ancient teachers through interpretation.”1937 Late Middle Persian literature strove to depict the early Sasanians as champions of an orthodox faith. According to the D¯nkard, for example, Ardash¯ I “through the just authority e ır
1932 Hormozd IV is also accused of having closed the Jewish academies at Susa and Pumbadita. Labourt, J., Le Christianisme dans l’empire Perse sous la dynastie Sassanide, Paris, 1897 (Labourt 1897), p. 200ff, as quoted in Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 896. 1933 See Chapter 3, especially §3.3. 1934 Gnoli 1989, p. 172. 1935 Gnoli 1989, p. 170. 1936 Hom Yasht 1880, H¯m Yasht, vol. 5 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1880, o translated by L.H. Mills (Hom Yasht 1880), §31. 1937 Dinkard 1911, 428.9–10, 567.19–21; Shaki, Mansour, ‘The Social Doctrine of Mazdak in Light of Middle Persian Evidence’, Archív Orientálni 46, (1978), pp. 289–306 (Shaki 1978), p. 298. As Molè noted, “l’ahram¯k¯h s’opposait à la p¯ry¯tk¯š¯h; leur opposition est fondée sur une exégèse o ı o o eı différente de la tradition. Dans le texte du troisième livre du D¯nkart nous voyons un ahram¯k e o rejeter les écrits des disciples de Zoroastre, mais reconnaître les G¯th¯s comme révélation divine: a a aucune doute n’est permis, cet ahram¯k est un hérétique zoroastrien ou un zoroastrien hérétique.” o Molè, M., ‘Le problème des sectes Zoroastriennes dans les livres Pehlevis’, Oriens 13-14, (1961), pp. 1–28 (Molè 1961), pp. 14–15.

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1911, p. 412, II. 12ff, as quoted in Duchesne-Guillemin 1983, p. 877. for example, whose ecclesiastical perspective, whence extreme partiality, needs to be ˙ kept in mind, notes that the Sasanians “governed their empire by the religion of the magi and frequently fought against those who would not submit to the same religion; beginning from the years of king Arshak [423–428], son of Tiran, they waged war up to the sixth year of Artash¯s, king of Armenia, e the son of Vramshapuh.” As is clear the point of reference here for Elish¯ is the non-Iranian religions e of the realm or in the regions under Sasanian suzerainty. Elish¯ 1982, p. 60. e ˙ ˙ 1940 See also our discussion on Arabic sources in this context in §6.2.2 below.
1939 Elish¯, e

1938 Dinkard

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of T¯sar [i.e., Tansar] commanded that all the scattered teachings [preserved in o the provinces on the Arsacid Vologeses’ order] to be brought to court. T¯sar set o about his business and he accepted one [of those teachings] and left the rest out of the canon, and he issued this decree: the interpretation of all the teachings from the Mazdayasnian religion is our responsibility; from now on there is no lack of certain knowledge concerning them.”1938 The preoccupation with the interpretation of the sacred text, which Tansar claimed as the prerogative of his class and evidently the monarchy, remained one of the cornerstones of the efforts of both parties in controlling the eruption of heresy. Neither does the aforementioned account intend to downplay the power of the clergy over their ﬂock, or their desire to control the lives of their constituency.1939 That in spite of all their efforts, neither the state nor the church was thoroughly successful in either of their agendas, however, is again brought out by the Manichean and Mazdakite heresies—the former of which erupted in the third century and continued to menace the Sasanians throughout their later history, and the latter of which started, by some counts, during this same period, but reached its height during the ﬁrst half of the sixth century. Hindsight, therefore, bears witness that the hold of neither the church nor the monarchy over the population seems to have been so tenacious as to prevent the development of heresy. But beyond the observation that both church and state were at times preoccupied with leashing heresy—an observation that is neither here nor there, for it does not elucidate the doctrinal aspects of an orthodox creed, nor its social praxis—there is no consensus on popular religious practice within the Sasanian realm. The problem seems to be endemic to the study of Zoroastrianism during the Sasanian period, and has to do with the nature of the sources at our disposal. The contemporary evidence comes mostly from foreign sources, often hostile, usually witness only to conditions in the western parts of the empire, or among the elite with whom the authors of these sources came into contact. They are rarely concerned with the ﬁner doctrinal issues of the creed. The indigenous information, the Middle Persian sources, on the other hand, are, at best, mostly late Sasanian, but generally composed in the ninth and tenth centuries CE. The evidence of the two types of sources cannot be reconciled. What the Middle Persian sources portray as the orthodox creed would make the evidence of the foreign sources tantamount to heresy. The problem is compounded by the fact that both types of sources give only incidental information about popular forms of religiosity.1940

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C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION 5.2.4 §5.2: O RTHODOXY – H ETERODOXY Zurvanism

At best only “two major sectarian movements”1941 have been acknowledged for the duration of Sasanian history, the Zurvanites and the Mazdakites, relegating to the background “various nameless minor movements [that] have been detected within the Middle Persian literature.”1942 Zurvanism, the origins of which have been traced back to the late Achaemenid and the post-Avestan period, has been deﬁned as a monism that was very much inﬂuenced by the Mesopotamian and Greek creation myths. A deep doctrinal gulf, it has been argued, separated the Zurvanists from the orthodox Mazdayasnian creed.1943 The Zurvanite myth of creation postulated “a single eternal Being, the Mainyu of Time (Avestan Zurv¯n), who begot both Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, and Angra Mainyu, a ua a that is both good and evil.”1944 The Middle Persian sources, on the other hand, depict a dualistic system of belief in which Zurv¯n can barely be perceived.1945 a So how did the Sasanians deal with this presumed heresy? For all the contention that the “lucid and comprehensive doctrines taught by Zoroaster left little scope for heresy and schism,” one of the foremost authorities in Zoroastrian studies has argued that the orthodoxy promulgated by the Sasanians throughout their reign was in fact the Zurvanite heresy. Indeed, Boyce continues, “ironically,
1992, p. 142. 1992, p. 142. 1943 An aspect of the doctrinal gulf that Boyce refers to involved the positions that the orthodox Zoroastrians and the Zurvanites maintained on freewill versus pre-destination. In orthodox Zoroastrian cosmogony, Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ effected creation in two stages. In the ﬁrst stage, all creation was ua a brought about in a spiritual and immaterial state, the m¯n¯g state. In the second stage, these acquire e o a material or g¯t¯g existence. These two stages of creation constitute the Act of Creation, the Bunıı dahishn. This ﬁrst Age of the drama of cosmic history is eventually followed by two other periods. The attack of Ahr¯ ıman with his conglomerate of evil forces inaugurates the second Age, the period of Mixture (Middle Persian Gumezishn). During this second Age this “world is no longer wholly good, but is a blend of good and evil.” In this second Age, man needs to make a conscious choice of joining the holy alliance of Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, the six Amahraspands, the beneﬁcent Yazatas, the lesser ua a two of the Ah¯r¯s, and the Sun and the Moon—who through their functions maintain the asha—in ua order to combat the forces of evil. Free Will on the part of the mankind, therefore, is one of the crucial ingredients of the Age of Gumezishn. Through Free Will man implicates himself in the progression of cosmic history, whereby gradually the forces of evil will be overcome, restoring the world to its original perfect state. The third glorious Age, the Frashokereti (Middle Persian Frashegird, meaning probably Healing or Renovation) will thereafter be inaugurated. “Therewith history [as we know it] will cease, for the third [Age], that of Separation [Middle Persian Wizarishn] will be ushered in.” Boyce 1992, pp. 25–26. As opposed to this presumably orthodox myth of creation and cosmic history, the Zurvanite cosmogony holds that a man’s role is predestined. In Zurvanite cosmogony, inﬂuenced by the Babylonian conceptions of cyclical history, history is divided into great recurrent cycles of time, within which all events repeated themselves. Zurv¯n, Time, begets a both Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ and Angra Mainyu. In a later articulation of this myth, Zurv¯n alone had “alua a a ways been, and shall be forever more.” According to Boyce, the Zurvanite “preoccupation with fate, and the inexorable decrees of Time, obscured the basic Zoroastrian doctrine of the existence of free-will, and the power of each individual to shape his own destiny through the exercise of choice.” Boyce 1979, pp. 68–69. 1944 Boyce 1992, p. 142. 1945 Duchesne-Guillemin, J., ‘Notes on Zervanism in the Light of Zaehner’s Zurvan’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 15(2), (1956), pp. 108–112 (Duchesne-Guillemin 1956), p. 108.
1942 Boyce 1941 Boyce

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for a dynasty regularly presented as the ﬁrst creators and defenders of Zoroastrian orthodoxy . . . the Sasanians actually weakened the faith through giving prominence to their own Zurvanite beliefs.”1946 The thesis that the Sasanians were actually Zurvanites, also espoused by Arthur Christensen, later came to be further ﬁne tuned in the seminal work of Zaehner, aptly recognizing the continued frustration of the ﬁeld in its title, Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma.1947 Zaehner’s work paved the “royal highway to the solution of the riddle.”1948 The Zurvanites, considered heretical by Zaehner, moved like a pendulum, affected by the pulsation and relaxation of the Mazdean orthodoxy. While Sh¯p¯r I a u (241–272) eased the implementation of an orthodox creed, during the career of Kird¯ and Sh¯p¯r II (309–379), orthodoxy reasserted itself to the detriment of ır a u the Zurvanite creed. The tolerance of Yazdgird I (399–420) led to the bigotry of his successor Yazdgird II (438–457), and while the Mazdakites and the Zurvanites ran riot under Qub¯d (488–531), Khusrow I (531–579) tightened the grip a of orthodoxy. Too many currents were at play during the rule of Khusrow II (591–628), overwhelming the orthodoxy.1949 It was in the intermittent periods that Zurvanism had liberty to take the ﬁeld. Recently, however, Shaked has questioned whether Zurvanism was a heresy at all, or simply a theological doctrine that adopted one of the numerous creation myths in circulation during the Sasanian period. He argued that the “ideas of Time existing at the basis of the cosmos and even at the roots of the division into good and evil were known and current in Zoroastrianism, with Time sometimes being supplemented by the notion of Space or Place.” These ideas, according to Shaked, while theoretically akin to Zurvanism, apparently were never considered heretical by Zoroastrian orthodoxy, for “we ﬁnd them in Zoroastrian writings without a hint of reservation.”1950 The Zurvanites, argues Shaked, were never considered heretical simply because “the adherents of Zurv¯n as supreme god were simply Zoroastrians.”1951 Shaked’s contribution a not only argues for the ﬂuidity of Zoroastrian thought during the Sasanian period but also touches upon notions of heresy versus orthodoxy in Sasanian society. The distinction has to do with the disparity that existed between a learned, theologically oriented Zoroastrianism and the popular versions of the
1979, p. 117. 1972. This path had already been paved in von Wesendok, O.G., Das Wesen der Lehrer Zarathustras, Leipzig, 1927 (von Wesendok 1927). For an overview of the scholarship on Zurvanism see Duchesne-Guillemin 1956, pp. 108–109; Boyce, Mary, ‘Some Reﬂections on Zurvanism’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 19(2), (1957b), pp. 304–316 (Boyce 1957b); Frye, Richard N., ‘Zurvanism Again’, Harvard Theological Review II(2), (1959), pp. 63–73 (Frye 1959). 1948 Duchesne-Guillemin 1956, p. 108. 1949 Frye 1959, p. 63. 1950 On the other hand, Shaked argues, “the myth of Zurv¯n, in its straightforward formulation (as a opposed to the philosophical ideas about the special position of Time and Space), is never found in Iranian sources.” Shaked, Shaul, ‘The Myth of Zurvan: Cosmogony and Eschatology’, in Messiah and Christos: Studies in the Jewish Origins of Christianity Presented to David Flusser, vol. 32 of Texte und Studien zum Antiken Judentum, pp. 219–240, Tübingen, 1992 (Shaked 1992), p. 231. 1951 Shaked 1992, pp. 230–231.
1947 Zaehner 1946 Boyce

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faith, practiced, in one form or another, by the majority of its adherents. But how did this theologically deﬁned articulation of faith—whatever its nature— protect itself vis-à-vis the potential outbursts of heresy? The crux of the matter had to do with limiting access and knowledge of the Zand, that is to say, the interpretation of the Avest¯. a 5.2.5 Zand¯ ıks

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also our discussion of heretics on page 337. Shaul, ‘Esoteric Trends in Zoroastrianism’, in Proceedings of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, vol. 3, pp. 175–221, 1969 (Shaked 1969), quoted in Shaked, Shaul, From Zoroastrian Iran to Islam: Studies in Religious History and Intercultural Contacts, Aldershot, 1995 (Shaked 1995), pp. 176–177; Molè 1961, pp. 11, 13–14. 1954 Shaked 1969, p. 189. 1955 Mas ud¯ 1869, vol. 2, pp. 167–168, Mas ud¯ 1968, p. 275, also cited in Shaked 1969, p. 188. ¯ ı ¯ ı 1956 Shaked 1969, p. 189, n. 38. Emphasis added. 1957 Shaked 1969, p. 190, n. 40.
1953 Shaked,

1952 See

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Except for the most crucial and threatening varieties of heretical movements, such as those of the Manicheans and the Mazdakites, the nature of the many heresies in the Sasanian period is lost to us. That other heresies did exist during this period, however, is amply demonstrated by the obsession of the orthodox Zoroastrian articulations of faith with matters of heresy.1952 While by the Sasanian period Zoroastrianism addressed itself to all mankind, insisted on its universalistic tendencies, and engaged in an active proselytizing effort in its competition with other, similarly inclined religious movements, one cannot totally deny the existence of a “secret element in the Zoroastrian religion”1953 of the period. The propagation and, for that matter, procurement of religious knowledge during this period was based on a hierarchy of classes or grades of people—which, incidentally, did not correspond to the strict Sasanian social hierarchy. The teaching of the Zand in particular seems to have been actively restricted by the Zoroastrian hierarchy, for Zand, that is to say, “the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, was considered to be the main tool of heretics.”1954 The main ¯ ı, articulation of this is found in Mas ud¯ who maintains that “if anyone came forth in their religion with something that contradicted the revealed message, which is the Avesta, and deviated toward the interpretation, which is the Zand, ¯ ı, they [the Persians] would say: ‘He is a Zandi’.”1955 Mas ud¯ in turn, must have been very faithful to the sources at his disposal for the D¯nkard states the e matter quite explicitly: “This, too, thus: One ought not to speak, do, or arrange the business of Zand differently from what the original orthodox [spoke,] did, taught and brought forth. For heresy comes to the world by one who teaches, speaks or does the business of Zand differently from what the orthodox spoke, did, taught and brought forth.”1956 The D¯nkard continues to warn of the dangers of heresy e and of learning the Avest¯ and Zand from wicked people. Its advice to the ﬂock a it sought to control was to beware of following a heretic: “not to hear and not to seek from him the instruction of Avesta and Zand.”1957 So closely associated

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had the deﬁnition of heresy become with the interpretation of the Zand, in fact, that zand¯k became a synonym for heretic. That in fact knowledge of ı the scriptures was strictly limited to the learned classes, and the masses were oblivious to their meaning is also stated by Niz¯m al-Mulk in his Siy¯sat N¯a a .a ma: when Mazdak was forced to defend his doctrines during his inquisition, he reasoned that it was Zoroaster who had instructed in this way. He argued, furthermore, that “in the Zand and Avesta it stands such as I say, but the people do not know its meaning.”1958 As Shaki observes, there were very tangible reasons for this elitist monopoly of scripture: The “Avestan language had long before Mazdak become laden with ambiguities and obscurities admitting of sundry interpretations.”1959 Shaked therefore argued that “the notion of a hierarchy of religious truths, which existed in the Pahlavi literature, was associated with the notion of the religious hierarchy of the believers in the religion, and that these two hierarchies had some relationship to the division of the Zoroastrian community into folk religion, on the one side, and a more sophisticated type of religion, developed by the learned, on the other.”1960 5.2.6 Circle of Justice

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1958 Niz¯m al-Mulk, Siy¯sat N¯ma, Tehran, 1941, edited by Abbas Iqbal (Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941), a a .a .a p. 238; see also Shaki 1978, p. 299. 1959 Shaki 1978, p. 299. 1960 Shaked 1969, p. 200. Emphasis added. 1961 See footnote 131.

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It is true that the elite–folk dichotomy in the Zoroastrian community did not have an equivalent class basis in that the kings and feudal nobility, not being trained theologians, were as prone to adopting popular forms of religiosity as the masses and the population at large. It is also true, however, that the actual provenance of heresy was thought to have been among the peasantry and the lower strata of Sasanian society. This is clearly reﬂected in the full-blown articulation of the Circle of Justice, which formulated a very contingent notion of legitimate rule: if the very foundation of the state and the defense of the realm were dependent on the prosperity of the kingdom, which itself could have been achieved only through equitable taxation and the justice meted out to the peasantry, then any injustices inﬂicted upon the peasantry, in theory at least, gave cause for rebellion and robbed the monarchy of the very basis of its legitimacy. In the P¯ ad¯ section of the national history,1961 the bilateral dimension of the ıshd¯ ı Circle of Justice and the role of the king in the replenishment of the kingdom are ﬁrst articulated. In Tha ¯lib¯ narrative on the mythical king Man¯chihr, a ı’s u for example, this dimension of kingship is clearly articulated in the following terms: “The King has a right vis-à-vis his subjects and the subjects have rights vis-à-vis the king. The populace are obliged toward the king in that they must follow him, and in that they must not desist in giving him advice, that they should be friends to his friends and enemies to his enemies. The king [on the other hand,] has the obligation of caring for his ﬂock, of having their interests in

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mind, and of not demanding from them that which is beyond their capabilities. And if there should appear heavenly or earthly calamities as a result of which their produce and wealth dwindle, the [king] is [obliged] to forego taxation in proportion to the damage.”1962 The Sasanians were well aware that their conception of justice was a doubleedged sword. This is reﬂected in no uncertain terms in the Testament of Ardash¯r: “Know that the decay of dynasties begins by [the king] neglecting the ı subjects without [setting them to do] known works and recognized labours. If unemployment becomes rampant among people, there is produced from it consideration of [various] matters and thought about fundamentals. When they consider this, they consider it with different natures, and as a result their schools of thought become different. From the differences of their schools there is produced enmity and hatred [of each other] among them, while they are united in disliking the kings.”1963 While the Testament of Ardash¯r has often been quoted ı for its articulation of Sasanian theory of government and the maxim that kingship and religion are twin brothers, however, the fact that it also contains a blueprint and a scenario for conditions conducive to sedition and heresy has seldom been highlighted. The above passage clearly articulates that sedition acquires an ideological dimension by coalescing into a school of thought. What causes this sedition and leads to the formation of various schools of thought is the king’s neglect of his subjects and the implementation of measures whereby unemployment becomes rampant. Turning the maxim of the Circle of Justice on its head, therefore, and given the king’s failure to maintain his contract with his subjects, the masses could rebel. The ideology of the Circle of Justice, then, by deﬁnition, gave cause for questioning the very legitimacy of the state if it became dysfunctional, and the Sasanians realized this.1964 In the Iranian context, the most acute forms of sedition and rebellion are often articulated in the garb of religious heresy among the lower strata of the population. The Testament of Ardash¯r points out the social sectors which were ı most susceptible to heretical tendencies, namely, the oppressed lower classes: “The main thing of which I [i.e., Ardash¯ I] fear for your [i.e., guardians of ır religion’s] sakes is that the low people should rush and outdo you in the study of religion, in its interpretation and becoming expert in it . . . [As a result] there would emerge secret chieftainships among the low people, the peasants and the rabble that you have harassed, tyrannized, deprived, terrorized and belittled. Know that there can never be in one kingdom both a secret chief in religion

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1962 Bal am¯ 1959, ı
ð

pp. 37–38; Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 50, Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 67: a ı a ı

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1963 Ardashir 1967, Ahd-i Ardash¯r, Beirut, 1967, edited by I. Abbas (Ardashir 1967), p. 53; Ardashir ı 1966, p. 49; quoted in Shaked 1969, pp. 214–215. 1964 For the Mithraic dimension of the Circle of Justice ideology, see page 354 below.

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and a manifest chief in kingship without the chief in religion snatching away that which is in the hands of the chief in kingship.”1965 As Shaked himself has pointed out, “the people among whom this danger [of heresy] is possible are al-siﬂa or lower class people and . . . al- ubb¯d wa ’l-nuss¯k, the pious and the a a ascetic.”1966 5.2.7 Mazdakite heresy

The most fertile ground for the cultivation, propagation, and growth of heresy during the Sasanian period, therefore, was amid the lower strata of the population and the peasantry. And it was in fact among this sector of the Iranian population that one of the most potent revolutionary movements in Iranian history, propagating communistic ideals, appeared: the Mazdakite revolution. Whether or not the Mazdakite movement was able to unleash a revolutionary movement that undermined the very foundations of Sasanian society is open to debate.1967 What seems incontestable, however, is the perceived heretical dimension of the movement. We reiterate once more that the eruption of the Mazdakite ideology with such force so late in Sasanian history attests to the inability of either the clergy or the monarchy to impose an orthodoxy. The history of the Mazdakite movement has been amply dealt with in other accounts.1968 What follows, therefore, is a selective analysis. It is generally acknowledged that while the Mazdakite movement came to the fore under the rule of Qub¯d (488–531), the origin of its doctrines goes a back to an earlier period. There seems to be some disagreement, however, over when this earlier phase of the movement began. The ﬁgure most often considered the originator of the movement is one Zar¯dusht, son of Khurrag¯n. a a This Zar¯dusht was a m¯bad or chief m¯bad of the town of Fas¯ in F¯rs. But a o o a a there is controversy over the exact identity of this Zar¯dusht as well as his date, a for a second ﬁgure called Bundos, a Manichean who “professed new doctrines in opposition to ofﬁcial Manichaeism”, is also said to have appeared prior to Mazdak.1969 It is unlikely that the controversy over the identities of Bundos and Zar¯dusht will ever be solved with reference to our extant sources. What a seems to be clear, however, is that an initial stage of the movement, under the leadership of a ﬁgure whom Ibn al-Nad¯ calls Mazdak the Older (al-qad¯m), ım ı occurred before the appearance of Mazdak the Younger (al-akh¯r).1970 Mazdak, ı son of B¯md¯d, according to one account, “renewed the doctrine of Zardusht a a

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footnote 1963. 1969, p. 214. 1967 See our discussion in §2.4.5. 1968 For a discussion of this history, as well as a critical survey of the sources at our disposal for the study of the movement see, Yarshater 1983c, pp. 991–995; see also §2.4.5. 1969 Yarshater 1983c, p. 996. 1970 Ibn al-Nad¯ ım, Muhammad b. Ish¯q, al-Fihrist, Tehran, 1987, translated by Muhammad Rid¯ . .a .a Tajaddod (Ibn al-Nad¯ 1987); Yarshater 1983c, p. 995. ım
1966 Shaked

1965 See

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Khurag¯n and gave it a new impetus, to the extent that the sect came to be a known by his name.”1971 As we have seen, it has been argued that the old-Mazdakite movement might in fact be identical with a heresy that erupted during the reign of Sh¯p¯r II (309– a u ¯ 379), in opposition to which Aturp¯t son of Mahraspand launched his efforts a to outline an orthodoxy.1972 One account places Zar¯dusht “sometime in the a course of the 5th century, presumably during or soon after the reign of Bahr¯m a V G¯r.”1973 Another school of thought dates him to the third century, thereby u making him contemporary with M¯n¯ 1974 The dispute over the identity of a ı. Zar¯dusht betrays the uncertainty of our sources. It does make, however, the a question of the prevalence of heresy during the Sasanian period all the more acute. Whether Zar¯dusht was a contemporary of M¯n¯ who propagated a a a ı, heresy that “existed now openly now secretly until the time of Khusrau,”1975 or whether he lived in the ﬁfth century, makes a difference insofar as the length of time the Sasanians had to reckon with this disruptive heresy. It is noteworthy that those who view Zar¯dusht as a contemporary of M¯n¯ maintain that the a a ı, Zar¯dushtis were a “sect tolerated for a couple of centuries as one of the nua merous heresies of the Zoroastrians.”1976 Chronological problems also plague the period of Mazdak himself. The generally held view, for example, that Mazdak appeared during the reign of Qub¯d and was destroyed under Khusrow I a (531–579) has been challenged.1977 Among all the varieties of heresy that might have existed in the Sasanian realm, Mazdakism came to be considered the arch-deﬁnition of a Mazdean heresy. Once again, the particular interpretation of the Avest¯ on which the a Mazdakites staked their claim, together with the social ramiﬁcations of this interpretation, was the crux of the matter. This intrepretationist dimension of ¯ ı Mazdakite doctrine has been highlighted by, among others, Mas ud¯ in his alTanb¯h wa ’l-Ashr¯f , where he maintains that “Mazdak was the interpreter (alı a muta awwil) of the Book of Zoroaster, the Avesta . . . and he is ﬁrst among those who believed in interpretation (ta w¯l) and in inner meanings (b¯. in).”1978 In fact ı at while the Manicheans were the ﬁrst to earn the epithet zand¯k, the Mazdakites ı
1983c, p. 998. ¯ 1972, p. 12. See also our discussion of Aturp¯t in §5.2.3. a 1973 Yarshater 1983c, p. 1018. 1974 Crone 1991b, p. 24. 1975 Shaki 1978, p. 301; Crone 1991b, p. 24. 1976 Shaki 1978, p. 301; Crone 1991b, p. 24. 1977 Crone also advances the thesis that since contemporary foreign sources fail to mention Mazdak, but instead impute heresy to Qub¯d, while later Middle Persian and Islamic sources link Mazdak a to the reigns of both Qub¯d and Khusrow I, but maintain the charges of heresy against Qub¯d, a a this suggests that Mazdak ﬁrst appeared under Khusrow I and tried to enforce communal access to women and property by raising a peasant revolt, only to be executed along with his followers by Khusrow I in the 530s. Prior to this, however, Qub¯d had already tried to “enforce communal a access to women in the 490s,” only to be deposed by the nobility. The two episodes, Crone argues, have been superimposed on each other. Crone 1991b. 1978 Yarshater 1983c, p. 997.
1972 Zaehner 1971 Yarshater

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“came to be considered the Zind¯qs par excellence” for, as B¯ un¯ maintains, the ı ır¯ ı “Manicheans were called Zind¯qs only metaphorically (maj¯zan).”1979 ı a It is not our purpose to prove the peasant dimension of the Mazdakite heresy, for this has been established beyond doubt by other scholars. The Mazdakites came from “the poor, the base, the weak and the ignoble plebeians (alfuqar¯ , al-sifla, al-du af¯ , al-lu am¯ , al-ghawgh¯ ).”1980 It is instructive for our a a a a . purposes to note that in the midst of crushing the plebeian revolutionaries, Khusrow I also had to deal with the rebellion of one of his brothers, Kay¯s, u who, according to some of our sources, had adopted the cause of the revolutionaries and challenged Khusrow I’s right to accession.1981 The Mazdakite interpretation of the Zoroastrian scripture relied ultimately on the Zoroastrian dualistic scheme of the universe, in which man held a central place. Creation was effected with an end in mind: the replication in the g¯t¯g ıı (i.e., this world) of the Ahuraic state as it existed in the m¯n¯g (i.e., spiritual e o state). As Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ and his m¯n¯g creation were the very deﬁnition of the ua a e o just order of the world, the Zoroastrian worldview burdened man with instrumentality in the scheme of creation: he was the agent for establishing justice in the g¯t¯g. The Mazdean worldview, therefore, like the Mazdakite interpreıı tation of it, was predicated upon this-worldly concerns. Man needs to make a conscious choice.1982 This involved man, above all, in a creation scheme that derived its meaning from the struggle of the good and the just against evil, the very instrument of injustice. This Mazdean scheme was early on incorporated into the Iranian nationalist ideology by not only making kingship sacramental, but also, by extension, making sedition against kingship heretical and the provenance of evil. Mention has already been made of the purview of, and potential for, rebellion in the articulation of the Circle of Justice.1983 The worldview espoused by the Circle of Justice ideology can be summed up as a contract between the peasantry and the monarchy, whereby in order to assure its existence, ultimately through the wealth provided by the peasantry, the monarchy undertook to provide for the sustenance of the latter through equitable taxation. As the Testament of Ardash¯r attests, the monarchy entered into this contract not so ı much on account of the sacredness of the monarchical ofﬁce in disposing of its duties, although this claim was made on its behalf, but for utilitarian reasons: the monarchy needed the wealth produced by the peasantry. It may, therefore, be argued that insofar as the Mazdakite rebellion was launched against the

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1983c, p. 997. Emphasis mine. 1991b, p. 23, and n. 42 and the sources cited there. 1981 Theophanes, Chronographia, Leipzig, 1883, edited by C. de Boor (Theophanes 1883), pp. 169ff. Cited in Crone 1991b, p. 23, n. 42 and p. 31, n. 237. Crone’s claim that later historiography wanted to discredit Kay¯s’ claim to power by charging him with heresy, is not convincing for, in numerous u other instances of contention for power among members of the Sasanian family, no such charges were voiced. Crone 1991b, p. 33. For Kay¯s, see §4.1.1. u 1982 See also our discussion on free-will in Mazdeism in footnote 1943. 1983 See §5.2.6 and footnote 1963.
1980 Crone

1979 Yarshater

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established hierarchical structure of Sasanian society, of which the Circle of Justice formed the justiﬁcation and articulation, the movement must have used the interpretation of Zoroastrian scripture to highlight the dysfunction of the state ideology. 5.2.8 Jewish and Christian communities

A variety of forms of the Mazdean creed, even a presumed orthodoxy, were not the only religious currents found in the Sasanian realm, however. While it is safe to assume that the majority of the Iranians partook in some form of their ethnic religion, Zoroastrianism, it is also an established fact that substantial minority religions continued to coexist in Iran. Substantial Jewish settlements ¯ o existed in the Mesopotamian provinces of the Sasanians, most notably in As¯1984 rist¯n (former Assyria), called in Aramaic B¯t Aram¯y¯. a e a e Jewish settlements also existed in Armenia, in the province of Adiabene, in Media (M¯h), and in a Azarb¯yj¯n (Atropatene). Some of these settlements were already in existence a a in Arsacid times. The most eastern evidence for Jewish settlement seems to have been the satrapy of Parthia.1985 In the south, in Isfah¯n, we ﬁnd a strong Jewish . a settlement dating from the period of Sh¯p¯r II (309–379), who resettled them a u there from the town of Van. Toward the end of the fourth century the Jewish population of Isfah¯n seems to have increased at the prompting of the Jewish . a wife of Yazdgird I (399–420). After a second migration, the community grew substantially so that by the end of the Sasanian period, the Jewish population of Isfah¯n became a very important factor in the life of the city.1986 There . a continued to be also substantial Christian minorities in the Sasanian realm. To give but one example, as Asmussen observes, the “numerous Iranian names of both laymen and clergy in various ﬁfth century Church documents bear witness to the missionary successes of the Syrian church among the Sasanians’ fellow countrymen.”1987 What is of utmost importance for us, however, is that in their relations with the minority communities of Iran, the Sasanians did not have “any articulated legal principle regulating their position except the religious law as contained in the holy canon, the Avesta.”1988 In spite of the hold exerted on the monarchy intermittently by the clergy, the ultimate authority in declaring cases of heresy rested with the monarch in his position as “chief of the magus state, high priest and supreme judge.” But equally signiﬁcant for our purposes is the fact that

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1984 Widengren 1961, pp. 117–162. According to Widengren, their center was in northern Babylonia, but Jewish settlements could also be found in the south, in the Sasanian vassal kingdom of Mesene. Ibid., p. 117. 1985 Although a separate tradition testiﬁes to the existence of Jewish communities in Khw¯razm. If a trusted, this would imply that the Jewish community in Khw¯razm could have had contact with a Soghdiana, although there seems to be thus far no evidence of Jewish settlement in Soghdiana. 1986 Widengren 1961, p. 119. 1987 Asmussen 1983, p. 942. 1988 Widengren 1961, p. 156.

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1961, p. 157. 1982, pp. 110–111, n. 1 and p. 112. ˙ 1991 See Brody, Robert, ‘Judaism in the Sasanian Empire: A Case Study in Religious Coexistence’, in Shaul Shaked and Amnon Netzer (eds.), Irano-Judaica II: Studies Relating to Jewish Contacts with Persian Culture throughout the Ages, pp. 52–62, 1990 (Brody 1990), p. 60. 1992 Widengren 1961, pp. 126–147. 1993 Asmussen 1983, p. 934.
1990 Elish¯ e

1989 Widengren

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perhaps with a few exceptions, “the king was not led by any religious but by political and economic considerations as far as we are able to judge.”1989 The central authorities’ relations with the Jewish and Christian communities living in their realm was, therefore, not directed by any systematic policy. The reigns of Sh¯p¯r I (241–272), Sh¯p¯r II (309–379),1990 Yazdgird I (399–420), a u a u Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438), Qub¯d (488–531), and even of the rebel Parthian a u a dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ (590–591), attest to this. Yazdgird I, for example, is a u ın said to have given a belt (kamar), a mark of honor, to at least one of the exilarchs with whom he had intimate association. The Jewish community may have aided Bahr¯m V G¯r when he was temporarily deposed, Jews being most a u certainly recruited in his army. Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was supported by rich Jews a u ın of the empire, and Khusrow I had a rather benevolent policy toward the community. In short, from the information that we can garner, we get the general impression that the community fared rather well for a substantial portion of the Sasanian period. There were, of course, periods of persecution, at times very intense. Under Bahr¯m II, the policies of Kird¯ a ır—in whose inscription Jews are mentioned together with other minorities as being smitten in the empire— might point to one such period of crisis for the community. It is not clear, however, to what extent Kird¯ declarations reﬂect the actual implementation, ır’s or for that matter, success, of the measures he is supposed to have promoted. As far as the Jewish community is concerned, for example, it has been remarked that “it is unclear just how much of [Kird¯ ır’s] boasting is idle . . . [for] Talmudic sources have not produced any unequivocal evidence that contemporary Jews were aware of being persecuted.”1991 If the persecution of the community by Kird¯ is open to question, however, the reign of Yazdgird II (438–457) and ır his son P¯ uz (459–484), who inaugurated “a policy of radical persecution of ır¯ the Jews,” leave dark marks on the Sasanian treatment of this long-established minority community in Iran.1992 The Sasanian relationship with the Christian communities of their domain seems to have been equally unaffected by a systematic policy. As Asmussen observes, periods of persecution notwithstanding, “[t]hroughout the whole Sasanid period, Christianity was tolerated . . . [so much so that] without reservations on the part of the state, Christians performed services on an equal footing with their Zoroastrian fellow countrymen.”1993 Elish¯ describes in emotive dee ˙ tail, for example, how in the days of Sh¯p¯r, when Christianity was on the rise a u in the Sasanian realm, the king took measures to stop its spread. But realizing the futility of his efforts, the king ordered “the magi and chief-magi that no

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one should molest them [i.e., the Christians] in any way, but that they should remain undisturbed in their own doctrines without fear, magus and Zandik1994 and Jew and Christian, and whatever other many sects there were throughout the Persian Empire.” If Elish¯’s observations refer to Sh¯p¯r II (309–379),1995 dure a u ˙ ing whose reign, by one account, the “only known general persecution of the Christians in the spirit of orthodox Zoroastrianism”1996 took place, then Sh¯a p¯r II’s change of policy according to Elish¯, after “thirty nine or forty years u e ˙ of [severe] persecution,” must also be noted. According to some, Yazdgird II’s reign (438–457), however, was also clouded by the persecution of Christian Armenians from 441/2–448/9, which, by one account was precipitated by the advice of his magi.1997 But Yazdgird II’s attitude to Christianity itself, as portrayed by Elish¯, for example, can be characterized as ambiguous at best. As e ˙ Thomson observes, while “[i]n the ﬁrst chapter [Yazdgird II] rages when the Christian faith is expounded; at the beginning of the second chapter he reviews all doctrines with a view to choosing the best; [and] in chapter three he states that Christianity is on a par with the Mazdean religion to be the most sublime of all [!]”1998 It is indicative that, according to Elish¯, after he began to pursue e ˙ a more liberal policy toward the Christians, Yazdgird II asked: “What harm have I done, and what crime have I committed against [any] nation, or people or individual? Are there not many creeds in the land of Aryans, and is not the cult of each openly [performed]? Who has ever forced or compelled [anyone] to accept

1994 See

§5.2.5.

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shortly before this observation, or to Sh¯p¯r II˙ “in whose reign there were severe persecutions.” a u Elish¯ 1982, pp. 110–111, n. 1 and p. 112. e ˙ 1996 Asmussen 1983, p. 936. 1997 The two different Armenian historians who cover Yazdgird II’s reign in detail, Elish¯ and Łazar e ˙ P‘arpec‘i, however, claim two different causes for this persecution. While Elish¯ attributes it to the e ˙ “malicious plotting of King Yazdkert, abetted by his evil counselors, who see in the Christians potential enemies of the state,” Łazar P‘arpec‘i saw the cause “in Armenia as a personal quarrel between the prince of Siunik‘ (Vasak), the marzpan (governor) of Armenia, and his son-in-law Varazva˜ lan.” For a detailed exposition of this see Thomson’s introduction in Elish¯ 1982, pp. 3–9. e ˙ 1998 Elish¯ 1982, pp. 28, 67, 69–70, and 134–135. In view of his observations here, it is unclear why e ˙ Thomson continues to argue that “the only Armenian reports of explicit tolerance for Christianity in Iran date from after the reign of Yazdkert.” And notes that these pertain speciﬁcally to the reigns of Qub¯d (488–531) and Khusrow I (531–579). It must be noted signiﬁcantly, moreover, that with a rather convincing grounds, Akinean suspects that many of the actions attributed to Yazdgird II by Elish¯, as well as descriptions that he gives of the Armenian revolt of 451, bear a striking reseme ˙ blance to actions undertaken by Khusrow I and the Armenian revolt of 572. If true and if Elish¯ e ˙ was actually reporting a later version of events, the remarks that he makes on the religious policies of Yazdgird II should therefore be attributed to Khusrow I. See Elish¯ 1982, pp. 23–29. In this e ˙ e respect one might note, for example, the passage where Elish¯ describes the policies of Yazdgird II, ˙ and maintains that “he [Yazdgird II] began to give precedence to the junior over the senior, to the unworthy over the honorable, to the ignorant over the knowledgeable . . . All the unworthy he promoted and the worthy he demoted, until he had split father and son from each other.” Ibid., p. 70. Some of our accounts, as we have seen on page 111, accuse Khusrow I precisely of this policy. The last word on this issue remains outstanding, nevertheless.

1995 Thomson notes that it is not clear whether Elish¯ is referring to Sh¯p¯ r III (383–388) mentioned e a u

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the single religion of magism?”1999 Our overview of the religious landscape in the Sasanian domains, however, would not be complete without a discussion of another age-old Iranian form of worship, that of Mihr (Mithra).

5.3

Mihr worship

While, for obvious reasons, the Mazdakite uprising has attracted much attention in Sasanian scholarship, it has rarely been recognized that of all the forms of Mazdean worship, one in particular was best suited in being exploited for achieving justice: Mihr worship.2000 This, perhaps, more than any other dimension of the worship, explains its cross-sectional popularity in Iranian history. The God Mihr belonged to the pre-Avestan, Indo–Iranian pantheon of gods. As such, its worship has had a long heritage in Iranian history. Investigations into Mihr worship, however, have long been hampered by the nature of the sources at our disposal. Much controversy, therefore, surrounds, among other things, the character of this ancient faith as it presented itself in the period under investigation in this study.2001 Brieﬂy, and most simply put, the primary question revolves around the degrees to which the pre-Avestan forms of the faith were affected by Zoroastrian reforms, if at all. Various answers have been given to this. There are those who argue, for example, that the popularity of pre-Avestan Mihr worship was such that some aspects of this ancient faith, as we can trace these in one of the most ancient documents of the Zoroastrian faith, the Mihr Yasht, and parts of other Yashts,2002 continued into the Zoroastrian period almost completely unaffected by the teachings of Zoroaster. It is for this reason, they argue, that, well after the appearance of Zoroaster, the god Mihr appears as a primary god in these sources. We should keep in mind, these scholars argue, that, while included in the Avest¯, the Mihr Yasht remains one of the a oldest sections of the Zoroastrian holy book, some of its sections being even older than the G¯th¯s. Parts of these sources, this school of thought argues, a a have “a striking pagan cast [which] survived unaltered, and are as incongruous to Zoroaster’s message as are parts of the Old Testament to Christianity,”2003 Included in this group are those who argue that Zoroastrian reform, with all its
1982, pp. 134–135. Emphasis added. shared the guardianship of asha (order, righteousness, and justice) with the two other Ahuras in the ancient Iranian religions. By one account, once Zoroaster proclaimed Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ ua a the most supreme of the three Ahuras, as the one uncreated God, he worshipped him as the “master of asha.” Boyce 1992, p. 19. 2001 There has also been an ongoing controversy over the precise relationship of this ancient Iranian faith to Roman Mithraism. See also our discussion at the beginning of §5.3.2. 2002 “Although the composition of the Yashts in their extant form is later than Zoroaster, their contents predate him, for they contain myths which the eastern Iranians had inherited from pagan times, as well as legends which reﬂect pre-Zoroastrian heroic ages.” Yarshater 1983b, p. 365. Some scholars postulate the date of the composition of the Yashts to be “as far [back] as the mid-second half of the 2nd millennium BCE, and, in some cases, to when the Aryans began to appear on the great plateau.” Gnoli 1989, p. 63. 2003 For an elaboration of this discussion, see, Boyce 1992, p. 38. ˙ 2000 Mihr
1999 Elish¯ e

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efforts at elevating Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ to the position of supreme deity, proved inua a capable of defeating the “Mithraic type of naturism and the Zoroastrian priests had to give in little by little to popular pressure, recognizing, along with the Zoroastrian angels, the gods of the Mithraic pantheon.”2004 Another school of thought, spearheaded by the late Mary Boyce, argues that with the Zoroastrian reform of the pre-Avestan pantheon of Iranian gods, while Zoroastrianized by becoming one of the yazatas, albeit one of the most important ones, Mithra was nonetheless relegated to a second-tier god in the Zoroastrian theology. In the orthodox Mazdean system of belief, they argue, Mihr never acquired the same elevated position as Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯. While much ua a investigation will be required in order to settle this controversy, we shall be arguing in the next two sections that important evidence points to the prevalence of Mihr worship among some of the important Parthian dynastic families under investigation here. Even more signiﬁcantly, we shall maintain that amongst these Pahlav families the God Mihr was bestowed with such primacy that the nature of Mihr worship espoused by some of the Parthian families of the quarter of the north and the east, could not have been the same as that practiced by Mazdean orthodox population. The Pahlav and the P¯rs¯ therefore, adhered to a ıg, different schools of religion, as far as we can establish in the course of this study. Before we present our evidence to this effect, a synopsis of the attributes of the ancient Iranian God, Mihr, is necessary. 5.3.1 Mithra

Throughout its long history, Mihr worship had come to be associated with the three functions of Iranian society: the monarchy, the army, and the peasantry. Above all, however, Mihr (Mithra) was the god of Covenants and Pacts, the quintessential deity who, unlike the remoter Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, got his hands dirty, ua a so to speak, in overseeing the proper implementation of pacts and ensuring a just society. Mithra, Lord Covenant The ancient Iranians attributed great power among the intangible things to the formal spoken word. “Two forms of legalized utterance were held to be imbued with their own distinct Mainyus [spirits], whose workings were so vividly apprehended that in time they came to be revered as great gods. One was the mithra . . . This was a pact or covenant entered into by two parties— two persons, or tribes, or peoples. The other was the varuna . . . apparently an oath taken by a single person.”2005 In this way a great triad of gods was
2004 Bausani 2000, p. 29. According to one theory, this process of the Zoroastrianization of the ancient faith took already place before the Mazdean religion moved west to be adopted by the Medes and later the Achaemenids. Christensen 1944, p. 31. 2005 Boyce 1992, p. 55. For Mithra as contract personiﬁed, and for the role of Mithra in Iranian belief in general, see Thieme, P., ‘The Concept of Mitra in Aryan Belief’, in Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies, vol. I, pp. 21–39, Manchester University

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conceived: Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ (Lord Wisdom), Ah¯r¯ Mitra (Lord Covenant), and ua a ua Ah¯r¯ Varuna (Lord True-Speech).2006 A declaration of entering into a mithra ua or a varuna was thought to invoke the Mainyu “inherent in the words themselves, and this Mainyu was thought to watch thereafter, unsleeping, over those concerned, ready to punish any who broke the faith.”2007 As far as Mihr as a god of contracts was concerned, there “was only one thing sacred about contracts: their inviolability . . . [Mithra’s] only concern is that, fair or foul, contracts must be kept.”2008 Even with this short introduction, the relevance of Mihr worship to the Circle of Justice should become apparent.2009 Mithra, the warrior god Because Mithra/Mihr oversaw a pact entered into by two clans or tribes, if one party would break the covenant, the aggrieved party would then have recourse to Mithra, who, coming to their aid, undertook to set things right by siding with the aggrieved and punishing the covenant breakers. Mithra therefore eventually came to be conceived not only as the god who oversaw the implementation of pacts, but also as an active, warrior god, who undertook to ﬁght on the side of wronged members of society. The warrior dimension of Mithra was a peculiarly Indo–Iranian trait of the god. In fact it has been argued that one of the chief differences between the Mitra of the Sanskrit Rig Veda and the Mithra of the Avest¯, is that in the fora mer the god is viewed as one “who defends and rewards those faithful to their solemn contracts,” whereas in the latter “he balances this rewarding function . . . against his role as the terrible avenger of those who break their contracts.”2010 The active participation of the god on the side of the aggrieved, in fact, “appears to [have] be[en] the genesis of the concept of him as war god, ﬁghting always on the side of the just—a concept abundantly attested for this many-sided divinity in his Avestan Yašt.”2011 The Mihr Yasht (Yasht 10) articulates this warrior function of the god in detail: “Mithra, whose long arms seize the liar(?), even if he [the culprit] is in the east of the [eastern frontier] he is caught, even if he is in the west [of the western frontier] he is struck down.”2012 In the Mihr Yasht,
Press, 1975 (Thieme 1975). 2006 Boyce, Mary, ‘On Mithra, Lord of Fire’, in Acta Iranica 4: Hommages et Opera Minora, Monumentum H.S. Nyberg, pp. 69–76, Leiden, 1975 (Boyce 1975), p. 69. 2007 Boyce 1992, p. 54. Another conception of pre-Avestan Mihr worship maintains that in the preZoroastrian communities there existed two types of religiosity. The center of one was the worship of Mazd¯, “an omniscient celestial god . . . a more or less exact counterpart of the Indian Varuna, a god of the sky.” A second type of religiosity “more polytheistic and nature-based, centered on the god Mithra, who was accompanied by other nature deities.” Bausani 2000, p. 29. 2008 Thieme 1975, p. 28, n. 17. 2009 For further elaboration, see page 354 below. 2010 Thieme 1975, p. 29. 2011 Boyce 1992, p. 55. My emphasis. 2012 Mihr Yasht 1883; Mihr Yasht 1959, The Avestan Hymn to Mithra, Cambridge University Press, 1959, introduction, translation, and commentary by Ilya Gershevitch (Mihr Yasht 1959), p. 125, as quoted in Thieme 1975, p. 30.

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Mithra appears as a “ﬁghting hero on his chariot . . . smiting demons and men that break their contracts.”2013 Mithra therefore eventually came to be the deity in charge of implementing justice. The covenant dimension of Mithra also incorporated his attribute as a judge. In the Mihr Yasht, the role of Mithra as a mediator “is of remarkable importance: Mithra is the mediator or the arbiter on the cosmological level between the two spirits of Good and Evil, on the socio-juridical level as head of the institution of the han¯mand in many respects a similar to the institution of interdictum in Roman Law, on the socioreligious level as the god of governing relationships, pacts, contracts, and alliances, and ﬁnally on the eschatological level of the individual soul . . . [when] he presides over ˇ the Cinvat bridge tribunal, midway between Heaven and Hell, compulsory passage of the soul of the faithful departed.”2014 This central aspect of the god as a judge was later also formulated in the terminology of m¯y¯nch¯gh.2015 ı a ı Mithra in eschatology The concept of Mihr as judge was gradually to become so central, in fact, that in certain Iranian versions of the myth of creation, Mihr, together with his cohorts Sor¯sh and Rashnu,2016 became the judges of the cosmic battle between u Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ and Ahr¯ ua a ıman in the Zoroastrian eschatology.2017 In his position as judge, however, Mihr was not considered to be impartial. For “all known varieties of Zoroastrianism uphold the absolute righteousness of Ohrmozd, and it seems natural, from the mythical point of view, that the just judge who is Mihr should be ﬁrmly and unequivocally on the side of justice, that is on that of Ohrmozd.”2018 This eschatological dimension of Mihr’s function acquires tremendous signiﬁcance in the late Sasanian and post-conquest history of Iran. It is also very important in deciphering the nature of Mihr worship prevalent among some of the Parthian families, to be discussed shortly.2019 According to Shaked, “the eschatological description which places mediators between the two antagonists preserves a detail which occurred in an older version of the cosmological myth, in which Mihr, with his associates, did indeed preside, as a judge, over the contract between two powers, and that this trait was generally omitted from later Mazdean accounts as the dualist system of thought hardened and became more rigorous.”2020 The attributes of Mihr as Lord Covenant
1975, p. 31. Walter, ‘Mithra, Arbiter and Rex’, in Ugo Bianchi (ed.), Mysteria Mithrae, pp. 689–700, Leiden, 1979 (Belardi 1979), here pp. 697–698. 2015 Shaked, Shaul, ‘Mihr the Judge’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 2, (1980), pp. 1–31 (Shaked 1980), here p. 10. 2016 These yazatas are worshipped in respectively Sorush Yasht 1883, Sor¯sh Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred u Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1883, translated by James Darmesteter (Sorush Yasht 1883); and Rashnu Yasht 1883, Rashnu Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1883, translated by James Darmesteter (Rashnu Yasht 1883). 2017 Shaked 1980, p. 11. 2018 Shaked 1980, p. 16. 2019 See §5.4. 2020 Shaked 1980, p. 17. Emphasis mine
2014 Belardi, 2013 Thieme

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and judge (m¯y¯nch¯gh), as well as his warrior dimensions are also central to the ı a ı ideology of Circle of Justice, especially if we consider yet another function of the God, his association with royalty. Mithra and farr Much has been said of the conception of kingship in the Iranian world as being contingent on the king’s acquisition of Divine Glory, farr (xwarra, Khvarenah, Av. xv ar@nah).2021 It should also be emphasized, however, that according to an ancient myth it was Mithra who took “charge of the fortune [i.e., farr, Khvarenah] . . . at times when that precious commodity [was] in danger of falling into the wrong hands.” Perhaps one of the most signiﬁcant characteristics of Mithra, therefore, was his association with royalty. Mithra bestowed the farr on rulers. This aspect of Mithra is set out in the Zamy¯d Yasht (Yasht 19), which is mainly a devoted to the farr. It contains the myth of how Yima (Jamsh¯ the ﬁrst manıd), king, lost his farr when he lied. After Yima’s death, the farr passed into the keeping of Mithra, and then into the sea (Vourukasha), which was under the protection of Varuna (Vouruna Ap m Nap¯t).2022 a Mithra and the Circle of Justice For the purposes of our discussion of the Circle of Justice it is signiﬁcant that the “meaning of this myth . . . is that since the king, reigning through [Khvarenah], maintains thereby social order, when there is no ruler ﬁt to possess it, it returns to the keeping of one of the Ahuras, whose task is primarily to maintain . . . [asha] order and rightness, in the world of men.”2023 What is equally signiﬁcant for our purposes is that “Mithra’s concern with proper government, arising from his political chieftainship and preoccupation with the covenant . . . turned him into a maker, as well as undoer, of kings.”2024 Nowhere is the close connection of the Circle of Justice with Mihr worship better illustrated than
2021 As B¯ un¯ maintains, during the annual festival of Mihrig¯n in the Sasanian period “it was the ır¯ ı a custom of . . . the kings of Iran of crowning themselves on this day with a crown which worked an image of the sun [Mithra] and of the wheel on which he rotates . . . ,” thus conﬁrming their farr with the aid of Mithraic symbols. Garsoian, Nina G., ‘The Locus of the Death of Kings: Iranian Armenia – the Inverted Image’, in Armenia between Byzantium and the Sasanians, London, 1985c (Garsoian 1985c), p. 53; B¯ un¯ 1984, pp. 337–340, here p. 370. For farr, see also footnote 222. ır¯ ı 2022 Zamyad Yasht 1883, §51; Darmesteter, James, Le Zend Avesta, Annales du Musée Guimet, 1892, 3 volumes (Darmesteter 1892) apud Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 59. 2023 Mithra’s role as protector of the farr is shared with Ap m Nap¯t, the Grandson of the Waters. a According to an ancient Iranian myth, “during the reign of Yima’s successor, the evil Zoh¯k (Aži a Dah¯ka, [i.e., Dahh¯k]), Mithra keeps the xv ar@nah in trust; in time Far¯ un (Θra¯taona, [i.e., a ıd¯ e . . .a Fereyd¯n]) obtains the xv ar@nah, defeats Zoh¯k, and reigns; after him during Minoˇihr’s [i.e., Mau a c n¯chihr’s] childhood, the xv ar@nah passes to S¯m Nar¯ an (K@r@s¯spa).” See Mihr Yasht 1959, u a ım¯ a p. 59, where Gershevitch recapitulates Darmesteter’s reconstruction of the myth in Darmesteter 1892, p. 625, n. 52. As we shall see, it is no wonder that in the absence of a ruler ﬁt to possess farr, in all the major revolts that erupted in Iran in the early Abb¯sid period, those of Ust¯ds¯ Bih¯far¯ a a ıs, a ıd and Sunb¯d, it is Mithra who is invoked. For the revolts of Bih¯far¯ and Sunb¯d, see respectively a a ıd a §6.3 and §6.4 below; for Ust¯ds¯ see, for instance, Sadighi 1938; and Pourshariati 1995. a ıs, 2024 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 60.

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in the Mihr Yasht, the Hymn to Mithra: “On whom shall I bestow against his expectation an excellent . . . powerful kingdom, beautifully strong thanks to a numerous army? [Once he rules] he appeases through Mithra, by honouring the treaty [read, by implementing justice] even the mind of an antagonized, unreconciled, conqueror.”2025 This aspect of Mithra permeates the saga of the Sasanian king P¯ uz (459–484).2026 ır¯ Mithra’s nourishing function There is another very important dimension to Mithra, however. He is the nourishing god who replenishes the earth through rain and vegetation.2027 In line with Mithra’s pre-Avestan eschatological attributes, it has even been argued that “in bringing rain and vegetation, . . . [the god must have] exercised what we may call cosmic functions already in proto-Aryan times.”2028 How can we reconcile the three functions of Mithra, the monarchical, warrior, and nourishing functions? It is well worth following in some detail the reasoning of Thieme. “What do rain and vegetation have to do with contracts? Putting the question in this way almost means answering it. According to an archaic, widespread, possibly worldwide belief, a king’s moral behavior is responsible for his people’s welfare, in particular for their health and for the fertile climate of their country.” Ready examples of this include the misdeed of King Romap¯da, which a resulted in a severe drought; the disastrous plague on the Greek army before Troy, caused by a misdemeanor of Agamemnon toward Apollo; Oedipus’s sins causing a pestilence in his realm.2029 Now, in the Mihr Yasht, “the most essential contract, a contract of a thousand fold sacredness . . . is a treaty between countries, concluded, of course, between their kings. A king who breaks his treaty exposes his whole country to the wrath.”2030 Here Thieme gives a truncated version of a part of the Mihr Yasht: “He wrecks his whole country, the knave who deceitfully breaks his treaty.” And he continues: “The converse of this is that Mitra bestows blessings on the country of the king who is faithful to his treaty. Instead of drought and pestilence, which are the natural consequences of a king’s wrongdoing, he lets the rain fall, the plants grow, gives strength to the bodies.”2031 The last part of Thieme’s wonderful explication might be questioned, however. Most signiﬁcantly, it is not certain whether the king’s breaking of a treaty with another country is what this section of the Mihr Yasht refers to, or if it is the king’s obligation toward his subjects that is the point. Even if the former, surely this is signiﬁcant only self-referentially. It is only because the king is inﬂicting hardship on his own subjects and creating wars
Yasht 1959, pp. 127–128; Mihr Yasht 1883, §109. page 380ff. 2027 Thieme 1975, p. 31. 2028 Thieme 1975, p. 31. In the Mihr Yasht, he carries the epithet vouru.gaoyaotu, [lord] of broad cattle pastures. Mihr Yasht 1883, §35. 2029 Thieme 1975, pp. 31–32. 2030 Thieme 1975, p. 32. 2031 Thieme 1975, pp. 32–33.
2026 See 2025 Mihr

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by breaking treaties with other countries that a king wrecks his whole country and exposes his whole country to wrath.2032 The contract implicit between the king and his subjects is spelled out in the Mihr Yasht: “If the head of the house who presides over the house, . . . the clan who presides over the clan . . . , the tribe who presides over the tribe, or the head of the country who presides over the country, are false to him, Mithra enraged and provoked comes forth to smash the house, the clan, the country . . . [and] the heads of the countries who preside over the countries and the council of premiers of the countries.”2033 It has been justiﬁably observed, therefore, that the “ﬁrst condition for a country to be able to honour its treaties is that its internal affairs should be wellregulated, the authorities obeyed, revolutions averted. In the fulﬁllment of this condition Mithra understandably takes an active part.” It is of course natural for the god who provides bounty through replenishing the earth to oversee the welfare of his ﬂock. This function of Mithra replicates, in a sense, that of the king as articulated in the Circle of Justice. This aspect of Mithra’s function has, once again, been aptly summarized by Gershevitch. “The provision of material comfort and of sons must be viewed as part and parcel of Mithra’s care for the nation’s welfare and prosperity, which creates conditions of internal stability, thus leading to treaty-abiding international relations.”2034 As the very incarnation of a god whose purpose it is to ensure justice, moreover, Mithra has “an endearing affection for the unjustly oppressed, the loyal pauper.”2035 This we read in the Mihr Yasht: “the pauper who follows the doctrine of Truth but is deprived of his rights, the lamenting voice of the latter [invoking Mithra], even though he raises his voice reverently, reaches up to the (heavenly) lights, makes the round of the earth, pervades the seven climes.”2036 That the king’s justice is gauged in terms of his equitable behavior toward his subjects, at least in the Iranian context, is borne out by a wealth of tales from medieval Iranian popular literature, whose worldview is infused with pre-Islamic Iranian beliefs.2037 Mithra and the ordeal by ﬁre Besides being the lord of covenants and justice, Mithra was also known as the Lord of Fire, and gradually developed a link with the sun. The epithet of the Lord of Fire seems to have been established in remote antiquity, while the identiﬁcation with the sun is thought to have been either an Arsacid or a Sasanian phenomenon. Mithra came to be associated with ﬁre because ﬁre came to be associated with truthfulness, and so the ordeal by ﬁre eventually came to establish

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2032 See also Thieme’s discussion on Mithra’s epithet vouru.gaoyaotu (of broad cattle pastures), which also seems to corroborate our argument here. Thieme 1975, pp. 32–33. Emphasis mine. 2033 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 83; Mihr Yasht 1883, §18. Emphasis mine. 2034 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 32. 2035 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 54. Emphasis added. 2036 Mihr Yasht 1959, pp. 113–115; Mihr Yasht 1883, §§84–85. 2037 The motif of a king who, in disguise, goes amid his ﬂock only to realize the wretchedness that his policies have caused and thenceforth resolves to rule with justice, is so prevalent in the didactic and popular Iranian tradition that an enumeration of it is beyond the scope of this study.

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the veracity of an oath.2038 In case of Varuna, “the validity of an oath [varuna] was judicially tested on occasion by making the man who had sworn it submit to an ordeal by water.”2039 However, since it was “customary to swear to covenants by Mithra . . . in the presence of ﬁre,” in order to establish their innocence, and prove that they possess asha (Vedic ˙ta), that is to say, that they r are among the ashavan (Vedic ˙tavan), those “accused of breach of undertakings r involving two or more persons,” underwent the ordeal of ﬁre, which therefore “was associated particularly with Mitra.”2040 In this ordeal “metal was heated, and then poured on the naked breast of the accused. If he survived, he was innocent.”2041 There are many references to ordeals by ﬁre in Persian literature.2042 The modern Persian expression for taking an oath, s¯gand khordan, “literally to o drink sulphur [the substance having a ﬁery nature], shows that the practice was ancient and widespread.”2043 It is signiﬁcant that the rite took place at a D¯r-i a Mihr (the abode of Mihr), and the most central deity in its performance was, besides Mithra, Rashnu the Judge, “a hypostasis of one aspect of Mithra’s, and the Ahura’s helper, with his unerring scales, at the judgment of each individual soul.” The element of ﬁre, therefore, was an essential attribute of Mithra and was used as an ancient rite to establish truthfulness. Mithra, the Sun But how did the identiﬁcation of Mithra with the sun come about? According to Boyce, as ﬁre was already associated with truthfulness, a “climate of thought [emerged] which enabled Zoroaster to see ﬁre as the creation and symbol of Asa [asha] personiﬁed; and his new doctrines, establishing this as a primary article of faith, must have discouraged the intimate association of Mithra with ﬁre in general, and have fostered the tendency to link him rather with its particular manifestation, the sun.”2044 Mithra is not identiﬁed with the sun in the Mihr Yasht. By the Sasanian period, however, “it was possible to refer to the sun itself as Mihr.”2045 The close connection of Mihr worship to ideologies that sought to rebel against the status quo and, in a sense, turn the Circle of Justice ideology on its head, seems beyond dispute. To what extent Mihr worship was connected with the Mazdakite ideology, and which forms of it, requires further research. What seems to be clear, however, is that Mazdakite followers, al-fuqar¯ , al-sifla, a al-du af¯ , al-lu am¯ , al-ghawgh¯ , bear an uncanny resemblance to the “unjustly a a a .

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1975, p. 69–73. 1975, p. 69–70. 2040 Boyce 1975, p. 70. 2041 Boyce, Mary, A History of Zoroastrianism I: The Early Periord, Leiden, 1996 (Boyce 1996), ¯ pp. 27–28. We recall Aturp¯t’s voluntary experience of this ordeal; see §5.2.3. a 2042 See Davis, Dick, Panthea’s Children: Hellenistic Novels and Medieval Persian Romances, New York, 2002 (Davis 2002). 2043 Boyce 1975, p. 72. Boyce 1996, pp. 34–36. 2044 Boyce 1975, p. 75. 2045 Boyce 1975, p. 75. My emphasis.
2039 Boyce

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oppressed, [and] the loyal pauper” for whom Mithra had such an enduring affection. Insofar as the provenance of the heresy is concerned, therefore, and as the evidence of the Mazdakite heresy has shown, the plebeian dimensions of popular religiosity cannot be ignored, even if kings and dynasts were just as ignorant of the requirements of high religion. As we shall see, Mihr worship had a tremendous potential for lending itself to revolutionary upheavals. 5.3.2 Mihr worship in the Achaemenid and the Arsacid periods

That Mihr worship seems to have been a prevalent if not one of the paramount forms of religiosity during the Achaemenid and the post-Avestan period is corroborated on a number of levels. Mithraic theophoric names form the majority of the names found in the Aramaic inscriptions at Persepolis from the time of the Achaemenid king Darius (549–486 BCE). In fact compound names with Mithra outnumber those referring to Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ by at least ua a ﬁve to three.2046 As the Greek sources testify, moreover, the prevalence of Mithraic compound names was not conﬁned to Pers¯ or Parthava during the ıs Achaemenid period.2047 The literary sources also provide evidence that the worship of Mithra was an important form of worship in Achaemenid Iran. Herodotus informs us, through a curious error, of the cult of a female deity called Mitra whom the Persians had adopted from the Assyrians and Arabs. Xenophon informs us in both Anabasis as well as Cyropaedia that “the Persian king swore by Mithra.” According to Quintus Curtis, Darius III (380–330 BCE) “called upon the sun and Mithras as well as the eternal ﬁre for victory” at the battle of Gaugamela. And ﬁnally both Aelian and Pseudo-Callisthenes note that “the [king?] swore by Mithra.”2048 The implication of all this is that “most, if not all, Iranians swore by Mithra, and not just the king or the army.” So prevalent was Mihr worship during the Achaemenid, the Hellenistic, and the Arsacid periods, moreover, that one school of thought has argued that through the migration of the Magi from Babylonia to the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia, the religion reached the Roman military and, in its by now heavily syncretic form, appeared as Roman Mithraism.2049 As we already remarked, the religious history of the Parthians has yet to be written.2050 Nonetheless, the claim that the Parthians were adherents of
2046 Frye’s conclusion is based on the valid observation that “repeated appearance of various theophoric names . . . compounded with the name of the same deity, could be used as an indication of the popularity of that deity in naming children.” Frye, Richard N., ‘Mithra in Iranian History’, in John R. Hinnells (ed.), Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies, pp. 62–67, Manchester University Press, 1975b (Frye 1975b). 2047 Frye 1975b, p. 63. 2048 Frye 1975b, p. 64. 2049 This is the bare outline of the erudite arguments in Bizet, Joseph and Cumont, Franz, Les mages Hellénisés: Zoroastre, Ostanès et Hystaspe d’après la tradition Grecque, Paris, 1938 (Bizet and Cumont 1938). 2050 Boyce 1991b.

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2051 Although the eagerly awaited posthumous volume of Professor Boyce on the religious history of the Arsacids and the Sasanians is certain to clarify a great deal of this. 2052 See §5.4.4 below. 2053 Shaked 1994a, p. 46. 2054 Shaked 1994a, p. 46. 2055 Frye 1975b, pp. 65.

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orthodox Zoroastrianism seems to have little to recommend it.2051 It is true that the Arsacids have been credited with the ﬁrst codiﬁcation of the Avestan holy book. The Parthians also used Zoroastrian holy months in their calendar. Considering the confederate nature of the Arsacid polity, and considering the Arsacids’ decentralized laissez-faire attitude toward the religious practices in their domains, it may well have been the case that some Parthian dynasts of the Arsacid period were orthodox Zoroastrians. In what follows, however, some signiﬁcant new evidence as well as a re-assessment of some of the data already at our disposal will be presented in order to make the case that Mihr worship, in contradistinction to orthodox Mazdeism, was the most widespread current of worship in the traditional Parthian domains: the quarters of the east and north. Part of this evidence pertains to the regions under Parthian dynastic control during the Sasanian period, and therefore will be presented as evidence of continuity of religious traditions from the Arsacid to the Sasanian period. In this context the religious history of pre-Christian Armenia—contemporaneous with the ﬁrst two centuries of Sasanian history—becomes extremely signiﬁcant. Mihr worship was one of the most popular forms of religiosity in pre-Christian Arsacid Armenia,2052 so much so that some scholars claim that the region was the provenance of Roman Mithraism. Shaked has argued that “traces of Mihr worship, which, to judge by the Armenian evidence, must have existed from Parthian times, have disappeared.” He furthermore maintains, however, that “such worship dedicated speciﬁcally to Mihr in the ﬁre temple [existed] seems . . . irrefutable.”2053 While “it is difﬁcult to ﬁnd in the extant literature convincing Iranian parallels to several elements of the [Roman] Mithraic myth in so far as it can be reconstructed from the monuments [in western territories] . . . [this] is no proof that they were not there . . . We can only manage to reconstruct a small portion of the variegated religious heritage of ancient Iran.”2054 It is in reference to this aspect of Shaked’s analysis that we shall present our evidence in §5.4 below. Theophoric evidence also testiﬁes to the prevalence of Mihr worship among the Arsacids. The ostraca found in Nis¯ in the Parthian homeland evince “the a same picture as at [that presented for] Perspolis under Darius; theophoric names with Mithra are more in evidence than those of other deities.”2055 Mithraic names remained prevalent through the rest of the Arsacid period. At least four Arsacid kings bore the name Mithradates, bestowed by Mihr: Mithradates I (171–138 BCE), Mithradates II (124/3–88 BCE), Mithradates III (57–54 BCE), and Mithradates IV (129–147? CE). A signiﬁcant iconographic feature of Arsacid

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§5.3: M IHR WORSHIP coins seems also to betray a Mithraic provenance.2056 5.3.3 The P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav religious dichotomy C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

There was a religious dimension to the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav rivalry during the Sasanian period, and this had to do with the adherence of some of the Parthian dynastic families to Mihr worship.2057 It is important to bear in mind that this religious rivalry goes back to the rise of the Arsacid dynasty, when the priestly tradition of Pers¯ articulated its opposition to the Parthians in religious terms.2058 ıs As Eddy’s fascinating study has shown, for more than half a century Pers¯ ıs resisted Arsacid domination. During the Seleucid period, already from about 280 BCE onward, we have evidence of local dynasts establishing themselves in Pers¯ It is only by 140 BCE that the area comes under Arsacid domination. ıs. Still, the Persians continued to attack the Arsacids with the same zeal as they had the Seleucids. And this they did in the strongest religious terms. Potent traces of the Persian opposition to the Arsacids is reﬂected in the ﬁrst chapter of the Videvd¯d (or Vendidad), which has been dated to the middle of the seca ond century BCE. Described as a catalogue of Unholiness in non-Persian lands, this section of the Videvd¯d omits one district, Pers¯ The Median and the a ıs. Greco–Bactrian states, in contrast, are listed among the unholy Ahrimanic entities that have been created in opposition to the Ahuraic regional creations. It is Parthia, however, that holds the lion’s share of evil territories. Nis¯, the origa inal capital of the Arsacids, and the burial site of their early kings, “was guilty of the sin of unbelief; Margiana [Marv] had indulged in sinful lusts; Hyrkania [Gurg¯n] was guilty of some unnatural sin for which there was no atonement; a Rhaga [Rayy], renamed Parthian Arsakeia, had committed another sin without atonement, the sin of utter unbelief. Chorasmia [Khw¯razm] had burned a corpses, yet another sin without remedy.”2059 It is signiﬁcant that while each of these territories is labeled unholy land because of a particular sin, Parthava and
2056 On the reverse side of a substantial number of Arsacid coins, a seated ﬁgure is shown holding a bow in a horizontal position. As the Mihr Yasht attests, the bow was the chosen weapon of Mithra, with which he struck the daevas. Mihr Yasht 1883, §128. Due to the tremendous marksmanship of the Parthian cavalry, the fame of the Parthian bow was widespread among their enemies, especially in the Roman Empire, and classical sources bear witness to this. But the kings who bear these bows on Arsacid coins are not on horseback and the bow is not held in an offensive position. The beardless man holding a bow on the obverse of the majority of Parthian coins is identiﬁed by Sellwood as “Apollo seated left on the omphalos and holding a bow.” Sellwood, David, ‘Parthian Coins’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(1), pp. 279–299, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Sellwood 1983), p. 279. Among the classical writers, however, Mithra as the high god was often represented by Apollo. 2057 See §5.4.2 and §5.4.3. 2058 As the cradle of the Achaemenid dynasty, Pers¯ seems to have already begun the Zoroastrianıs ization of its religious tradition toward the middle of the Achaemenid period. According to Gnoli, this process was of crucial importance in the establishment “of that substantial unity between religious tradition and the national tradition, which was to be characteristic of the whole cultural history of ancient, and, in part, medieval Iran.” Gnoli 1989, p. 36. 2059 Eddy 1961, pp. 79–80.

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Rayy, however, are depicted as committing the sin of unbelief.2060 We know furthermore that the Parthians “did not follow magian religious prescriptions, for they both burned and buried the dead.”2061 But from the perspective of the P¯rs¯ perhaps the greatest heresy that the Arsacids had committed was that of a ıgs, dominating Pers¯ Thus, as Eddy observes, “the Persians fought their Parthian ıs. master. The king from the East whom they had hoped would extirpate the Makedonians [i.e., Alexander’s heirs] turned out unhappily for them to be an Arsakid. The resistance of the Persians against the West had to redirect itself against the Orient.”2062 The early Sasanians continued to use the analogy that Pers¯ had made beıs tween unholy creatures and Parthians. In the investiture scene of Ardash¯ I ır at Naqsh-i Rostam (ANRm), both the king and Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ are depicted ua a mounted on horses. Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ “offers a ring of investiture with attached ﬂyua a ing ribbons to Ardashir.” While the mount of the high God tramples Ahr¯ ıman, that of the newly invested Sasanian king Ardash¯ I tramples the vanquished ır Arsacid king Ardav¯n. As Soudavar explains, the message of the scene “is clear: a Parthian rule was Ahrimanic and illegitimate, and when the last of the Parthians was vanquished, so was Ahriman.”2063 The hostility of the Sasanians to the religious traditions of the Parthian dynasts ﬁnds further evidence in the history of the rise of Ardash¯ I to power ır in the early third century. While arguing for the general applicability of the Letter of Tansar to the reign of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, Boyce points out a pasırv¯ sage which she claims to be appropriate only to the reign of Ardash¯ I “and ır to his reign alone.”2064 In this passage, Gushn¯sp accuses Ardash¯ I: “The king a ır of kings has taken away ﬁre temples, extinguished them and blotted them out.” Boyce points out the dissonance of this information with the generally held contention that the Sasanians zealously promoted sacred ﬁres. “The ﬁres in question,” Tansar explains, “had been those of vassal-kings of the Arsacids, who had no ancient entitlement to them.” The only period to which this information can be applicable, Boyce explains, is that of the rise of the Sasanians. As we shall see, however, this evidence is equally applicable to the reign of Khusrow I and later. The Parthian dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ for instance, threatened to a u ın, destroy Hormozd IV’s ﬁre temples, presumably in retaliation for what Khusrow I had done to the Parthian dynasts previously.2065 In either case, whether the passage refers to the early Sasanian period or to the period of Khusrow I,

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1961, pp. 79–80. Also see Boyce 1992, p. 40. 1961, pp. 79–80. Note that cremation as well as interment are against orthodox Zoroastrian doctrine. 2062 Eddy 1961, pp. 79–80. 2063 Soudavar 1980, p. 33. 2064 Tansar 1968, p. 16. See also our discussion of the Letter of Tansar in §2.5.2. 2065 See §2.6.3 and §6.1. Boyce observes that this “quenching of local dynastic ﬁres must have deeply offended the pride and piety of many Zoroastrians.” Boyce 1979, p. 108. Boyce’s frame of reference, however, is to the presumed Zurvanite–orthodox dimension of the Sasanian–Parthian rivalry; see our discussion in §5.2.4.
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it clearly reﬂects the Sasanian antagonism toward the religious practices of the Parthian families. Of the three great sacred ﬁres2066 of the Sasanians, one, the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre, ın was in fact a Parthian ﬁre established in their homeland sometime during the reign of the Arsacids.2067 The particular affection of the Parthians for their ﬁre is reﬂected in the Parthian romance V¯s o R¯min.2068 Here it is narrated that ı a one of the kings who had “abdicated . . . spent his last days in seclusion at its temple.” The very burial site of V¯ and R¯min, who in this romance appear as ıs a a Parthian king and queen, was “a royal sepulcher in the mountains above Adur Burzen-Mihr.”2069 ¯ Adhar Gushnasp ﬁre ¯ While the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre was a Parthian ﬁre, however, the Adhar Farnın 2070 2071 ¯ bagh and Adhar Gushnasp ﬁres, in Pers¯ and Media respectively, were ıs Sasanian ﬁres. These ﬁres are postulated to have been constructed in the late Achaemenid or Arsacid period. Their special signiﬁcance to the Sasanians and the dynasty’s promotion of these ﬁres to primary ﬁres, however, begins only in the midSasanian period, that is, the fourth to mid-ﬁfth century. Signiﬁcantly, it is be¯ ¯ lieved that the Adhar Gushnasp and the Adhar Farnbagh ﬁres were promoted in order to “rival the glory of Adur Burzen-Mihr.”2072 Most of our evidence pertaining to these ﬁres, in fact, belongs to this or later periods of Sasanian
2066 For a synopsis of the stimuli that led to the creation of temples with images during the Achaemenid period, in reaction to which ﬁre temples were created, see Boyce 1979, pp. 62–63. From this period onward, two categories of ﬁres are known to have existed. “The great ﬁres, the cathedral ﬁres . . . were all called, it seems, Atar-Verethragn¯, Victorious Fire (the name is known a only in its later forms, as Atakhsh i Varahram, Atash Bahram.) These were created from the embers of many ordinary ﬁres, puriﬁed and consecrated through prolonged rites. The lesser ﬁres were known simply as Fire of Fires (in later parlance Atakhsh-i Aduran or Atash Aduran.) These were formed from embers from the hearth ﬁres of representatives of each social class, and their temples were roughly equivalent to the parish churches of Christendom.” Boyce 1979, pp. 64–65. See also footnote 1873. 2067 Boyce, Mary, ‘Adur Burz¯n Mihr’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 472–473, ¯ e New York, 1991a (Boyce 1991a), pp. 472–473. 2068 For V¯s o R¯min, see Minorsky, V., ‘V¯ u R¯min’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African ı a ıs a Studies 11, 12, 16, 25, (1946, 1947, 1956, 1962), pp. 741–763, 20–35, 91–92, 275–286 (Minorsky 1946, 1947, 1956, 1962). 2069 Boyce 1979, pp. 88 and 90 respectively. 2070 For the legends associated with this ﬁre see Boyce 1991a, pp. 473–475. For the location of the ﬁre see Jackson, William, ‘The Location of the Farnbag Fire, the Most Ancient of Zoroastrian Fires’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 41, (1921), pp. 81–106 (Jackson 1921). 2071 Boyce, Mary, ‘Gushnasp’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 475–476, New York, 1991e (Boyce 1991e). As Boyce observes the identiﬁcation of the ﬁre with the warrior caste, “to which the kings themselves belonged,” was probably effected during the early Sasanian period. “There is no means of knowing whether it was before or after [the late Parthian period] . . . when the Median priests annexed the whole of the early Zoroastrian tradition, from the pagan Kayanian down to the Prophet himself, for their own province, transferring it thus from northeast to northwest Iran.” Boyce 1991e, p. 475. 2072 Boyce 1979, p. 123.

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¯ rule. As far as the Adhar Gushnasp ﬁre is concerned, for example, there “is no mention of it in early Sasanian inscriptions; and excavations suggests that it was not until the late fourth century that it was taken to an unusually beautiful site in Azarbaijan.”2073 The ﬁrst Sasanian monarch mentioned to have lavished gifts to the ﬁre, to have visited the ﬁre on the festivals of Sadih and Nowr¯z, u and to have made his Indian bride undergo puriﬁcation there, is Bahr¯m V G¯r a u (420–438).2074 In fact, it was probably this devout and zealous monarch “who ﬁrst fully acknowledged the royal link with this ﬁre.” Archeological evidence, however, gives still later dates. For the “earliest dateable objects found in its ¯ [i.e., Adhar Gushnasp’s] ruins come from the reign of . . . Peroz (459–484).”2075 ¯ Adhar Farnbagh ﬁre ¯ The earliest reliable evidence that we have for the Adhar Farnbagh ﬁre,2076 furthermore, belongs to the early ﬁfth century, when Yazdgird I (399–420) is “represented as taking an oath by both the Farnbag and Burzen-Mihr” ﬁres. Other ¯ evidence for the Adhar Farnbagh ﬁre pertains to even later periods. B¯ un¯ ır¯ ı maintains, for example, that it was P¯ uz (459–484), the great grandson of Yazdır¯ ¯ gird I, who “prayed at the shrine of ‘Adar Khara’ [i.e., Adhar Farnbagh] for 2077 an end to a devastating drought.” The Sasanian solution to the fact that the Parthian ﬁre of Burz¯ Mihr was “too holy . . . to withhold veneration from it,” ın moreover, was a measure which must further have offended the Parthian dynastic families and their followers. After the establishment of the two new ﬁres, the Sasanians began to claim a tripartite hierarchy of ﬁres. They now claimed that “Adur Farnbag . . . was the special ﬁre of priests, and Adur Gushnasp . . . that of the warriors, whereas Adur Burzen-Mihr belonged to the lowliest estate, that of the herdsmen and farmers.”2078
2073 Boyce

1979, p. 124.

2074 It is interesting to note, in view of our observations on page 373, that Bahr¯m V G¯ r prohibited a u

slaughtering cows before the ﬁres, for he considered this sacrilegious. The slaughter of cows, the king argued, leads to the disappearance of farr from the realm. Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, p. 410, ı Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 1678: ı
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2075 Boyce 1979, p. 124. It is also worth noting that this royal ﬁre continued to be “tended in its hill-top sanctuary down to at least the middle of the tenth century.” Boyce 1992, p. 153. 2076 The Adhar Farnbagh ﬁre was established in F¯rs, and Boyce maintains that “it is probable that ¯ a this is where the ﬁre was ﬁrst grounded, at some unknown date, presumably in the late Achaemenid ¯ or Parthian period.” Boyce, Mary, ‘Adur Farnb¯g’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, a p. 474, New York, 1991d (Boyce 1991d). 2077 “Farnbag means having a share/prosperity through Farnah (farr). Farnah is a dialect form of Avestan Khvarenah (Middle Persian Khwarrah, Persian Khara).” As Boyce observes, the Sasanians put this meaning of the name to much propagandistic use, identifying it “at times fully with divine Khvarenah itself.” Boyce 1979, p. 123. 2078 It should be observed that as a Mithra ﬁre (see below), the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre probably addressed ın the three-fold attributes of this important yazata, the kingly, warrior and nourishing functions.

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§5.3: M IHR WORSHIP Burz¯n Mihr ﬁre ı But as the name of the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre, Exalted is Mihr, indicates, Mihr was the ın principal deity of this Parthian ﬁre. Why would this be the case if the Parthians were in fact orthodox Zoroastrians?2079 Boyce explains this by maintaining that Burz¯ Mihr “is known as a personal name, and is presumed to be that of the ın unknown founder of the ﬁre.”2080 She believes, in other words, that this major Parthian ﬁre was originally established as a personal ﬁre, as can be the case in Mazdeism. Yet the ﬁre’s theophoric name ‘exalted is Mihr’ would not make any sense, unless the individual in question was not only a Mihr worshipper, but also a powerful political ﬁgure, such as an Arsacid king. What lends credence to the conjecture that the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre was a ﬁre dedicated to Mithra/Mihr is ın further theophoric evidence surrounding this ﬁre. One of the two suggested locations for this ﬁre is Mount Mihr, “ﬁve miles from a village called Mihr on the highway between Š¯hr¯d and Sabsav¯r [Sabziv¯r]” in Khur¯s¯n.2081 The other a u a a aa proposed site is Mount R¯ ıwand, a spur of the N¯ ap¯r mountains, near which ısh¯ u is a village called Burz¯ an.2082 Another curiosity surrounding this ﬁre deserves ın¯ mention. Of the three ﬁres, only the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre’s name appears without ın ¯ ¯ ¯ the preﬁx Adur, Adhar or Atakhsh. It has been suggested, therefore, that this might have been the habitual manner of referring to the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre. The ın evidence for this is found in a number of seals. One of these seals bears the in¯ ¯ a o e e scription Adur-dukht fr¯z ¯ Burz¯n-Mihr (Adur-dukht in front of Burz¯n-Mihr). While the reading of the second seal is not clear, two newly discovered seals2083 bear the following clear inscription: “D¯d-Burz-Mihr, Parthian aspbed, taking a refuge in Burz¯n-Mih[r].” Recall that these seals belong to the Parthian K¯rin e a dynasty.2084 Two other seals bear the inscription “abest¯n ¯ Burz-Mihr, conﬁa o dence in Burz-Mihr.” Gyselen argues, however, that as it is difﬁcult to consider these graphic errors for the name Burz¯n-Mihr, one should wonder “who is this e Burz-Mihr to whom one is addressing oneself.”2085 The most obvious answer
It is possible, therefore, that in establishing a three-fold division of the ﬁres, the Sasanians were attempting to undermine the all-encompassing functions of Mithra. 2079 Another exalted temple, probably established during the Arsacid period, was the ﬁre of Karkoy in S¯ an. According to the description of the temple of this ﬁre by the thirteenth century geogıst¯ rapher Qazv¯ ı, the temple had two domes, “bearing horns like that of a great bull.” Boyce 1979, ın¯ p. 153. If, in fact, this is a Parthian ﬁre, the particular symbolism of the cow’s horn on this temple is signiﬁcant. To my knowledge no other Zoroastrian temple is described in the literature with this particular motif. As there seems to be a direct connection between Mihr worship and cow symbolism, at least in some versions of the faith (see 373ff below), the Karkoy ﬁre might be considered another example of the particular Mithraic dimension of Parthian forms of religiosity. 2080 Boyce 1991a, pp. 472–473. 2081 William Jackson believed that in his travels he had identiﬁed the location of the Burz¯ Mihr ın ﬁre “with reasonable certainty” to be there. Jackson, A.V. William, From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam, New York, 1975 (Jackson 1975). 2082 Boyce 1991a, p. 472. 2083 Gyselen 2001a, seal 1b and seal A, pp. 36 and 46. 2084 See page 114ff. 2085 Gyselen 2003, pp. 134–135 and the references cited therein.

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1979, p. 113. 1966, K¯rn¯mag-i An¯sh¯rav¯n, vol. 254 of Journal Asiatique, pp. 16–45, 1966, a a o ı a translated by M. Grignaschi (Anoshiravan 1966), p. 26, apud Boyce 1979, p. 134. 2088 Gyselen 2002. 2089 See §6.1, especially page 403. 2090 See §5.2.4.
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to this, however, is the one neglected: that the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre is the object of ın devotion here. There is no doubt that, as a general rule, during the Sasanian period there was a distinction between the religious tradition espoused by the P¯rs¯ and a ıg that adhered to by the Pahlav dynasts. We are not in a position to argue for this across the board, for we lack evidence to this effect for some important Parthian dynastic families, notably the S¯rens and the Ispahbudh¯n. What is more, we u a cannot argue for the dominance of a particular religious tradition within all sectors of a particular agnatic Parthian dynastic family. The distinction between the religious beliefs of the P¯rs¯ and that of the Pahlav during the Sasanian a ıg period, therefore, should be regarded as a general observation. One key piece of evidence is an observation made by a ﬁfth-century Armenian historian who “refers to a Zoroastrian priest who was master of both the Persian and Parthian schools of religious thought.”2086 There is no indication in our sources that any rapprochement between these two schools occurred in subsequent centuries. In fact, all the evidence at our disposal underlines not only a continuing distinction between these two religious schools, but even an outright hostility. The depiction of Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an in the K¯rn¯mag-i ırv¯ a a An¯sh¯rav¯n lends credence to this observation. Here, Khusrow I claims that o ı a “the m¯badh¯n m¯badh submitted [the case] of several persons whom he named o a o and who belonged to the nobility. The religion of these persons was contrary to that which we inherited from our Prophet and the learned men of our faith.” According to the K¯rn¯mag-i An¯sh¯rav¯n, the m¯badh¯n m¯badh had warned Khusrow I a a o ı a o a o that these people “were proselytizing in secret for their religion and inviting people to adopt it.” Khusrow I then had these people brought to him in order to dispute with them. Presumably ﬁnding them adamant in their faith, Khusrow I then ordered “that they should be banished” from his capital, his country and his empire, “and that all those who shared their beliefs should follow them.”2087 There is very little doubt that among the nobles in question were members of the Parthian dynastic families. The clergy (m¯bads) were key enforcers of o Khusrow I’s reforms, as attested by numerous seals.2088 As we shall see,2089 one of the chief accusations of the rebel Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ against the Sasanians was a u ın that the Mihr¯ns were dejected by the activities of these m¯bads, by which he a o undoubtedly meant their attempts to impose Zoroastrian orthodoxy. Acknowledging this evidence, Boyce admits the existence of a continued doctrinal difference between the P¯rs¯ and the Parthians during the Sasanian a ıg period, but interprets this as Sasanian adherence to the Zurvanite heresy,2090 versus Parthian adherence to an orthodox form of Mazdeism. The Sasanian

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adherence to the Zurvanite theology, Boyce argues, “was very probably the main point of difference between Parthian and Persian theology, a difference which evidently persisted, despite the efforts of the Sasanian clergy.”2091 This, she claims, can be substantiated by the evidence of Manichean missionaries in Parthian territories. Although the Manicheans normally rendered the name of their God as Zurv¯n, when M¯n¯ sent missionaries to Parthia, where his scripa a ı tures were translated into Parthian, they “rendered the name of the Manichean gods by ones acceptable to the Zoroastrians of that region.” Instead of calling their God Zurv¯n they “simply translated the name of Mani’s supreme God a literally, as Father of Greatness.” While evidence of Zurvanism can be found among the Sogdians and in the far northeast, Boyce furthermore maintains that “the Parthians appear to have resisted the heresy.”2092 Contrary to Boyce’s claim, however, this difference cannot be explained by the presumed orthodoxy of the Parthians. In fact, the paramount feature of the Sasanian–Parthian religious rivalry in the quarters of the east and the north was the predilection of some of the Parthian dynastic families for Mihr worship. Boyce admits the strength of Mihr worship in northeastern Iran. It is evident, she concedes, that “Mithra worship was strong among the Iranian peoples to the north–east of Iran proper . . . where there seem to have been cults where Mithra was the chief god.” This, however, she argues, cannot be taken to mean “that he was ever worshipped alone.”2093 Yet the evidence at our disposal indicates that Mihr was indeed the paramount popular deity among the Parthians—although his worship did not exclude the worship of other yazatas. Ardash¯r I / Ardav¯n ı a The Mithraic dimension of Parthian religiosity is highlighted in the narrative of the rise of the Sasanians and their defeat of the Arsacids in the K¯rn¯mag-i a a Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n. As in the Mihr Yasht, where the true worshippers of Mithra ı a a stand in contrast to those who are not Mihr worshippers (miθr¯-druj),2094 so o too in the K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n, standing on the side of Mithra, and a a ı a a abiding by his contract, or being in opposition to him and breaking a treaty, is called respectively mihr¯n kardan, to form a Mithra, and mihr dur¯j¯, to be false a uı to Mithra. This terminology is in fact replete in the accounts of Ardash¯ I’s ır victory over the Arsacid king Ardav¯n.2095 a

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1979, pp. 112–113. 1979, p. 112. 2093 Boyce, Mary, ‘On Mithra’s Part in Zoroastrianism’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 32 (Boyce 1969), p. 16, n. 32. 2094 Mihr Yasht 1883, §9. See also Frawardin Yasht 1883, Fraward¯n Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred Books ı of the East, Oxford University Press, 1883, translated by James Darmesteter (Frawardin Yasht 1883), §47, as cited in Jafarey, A., ‘Mithra, Lord of the Lands’, in Rowman and Littleﬁeld (eds.), Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies, pp. 54–61, Manchester University Press, 1975 (Jafarey 1975), p. 58. 2095 Besides the examples below, see Ardashir 1963, p. 186. The K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n is a a ı a a so replete with Mithraic imagery that a separate study needs to be devoted to it. An example of
2092 Boyce

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C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION §5.3: M IHR WORSHIP

The narrative of the rise of the Sasanians in the K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯a a ı a pag¯n contains folkloric elements; a popular provenance that makes the infora mation contained in it all the more signiﬁcant. Here, the rebellion of the upstart king Ardash¯ I against the Arsacid Ardav¯n commences when Ardash¯ I, ır a ır together with a slave girl of Ardav¯n, ﬂed from the Arsacid ruler. Halfway a through their ﬂight on horses stolen from Ardav¯n’s stable, when the sun had a risen, the two were pursued by a ram, the agent that bestows Royal Glory, farr (xwarra, Khavernah), on behalf of the yazata Mithra.2096 The rising sun, the mounted warriors, and ﬁnally the ram are all Mithraic imagery that, in line with the function of Mithra as the “maker, as well as undoer, of kings,”2097 heralds the transference of the farr of the last Arsacid, Ardav¯n, to the ﬁrst a Sasanian king, Ardash¯ I. When the ram ﬁnally caught up with Ardash¯ I, ır ır he was consequently assured of kingship.2098 Later in the narrative, Ardash¯ I ır married the sister of Ardav¯n. The two brothers of Ardav¯n, in ﬂight, accused a a their sister of betrayal and dubbed her a mihr dur¯j, a breaker of the contract, u and one who had been false to Mithra.2099 In fact, this part of the narrative is replete with the terms mihr dur¯j and Mihr.2100 Ardash¯ I’s enemy in F¯rs, u ır a with the signiﬁcantly theophoric name of Mihrak-i N¯shz¯d¯n,2101 broke his u a a collaboration with Ardash¯ I by what the K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n also ır a a ı a a terms mihr dur¯j¯.2102 uı
this is the narrative of the Haft¯nb¯kht worm who rules, it is argued, on the coast of the Persian a u Gulf and has his stronghold in the dizh-i Kal¯n¯n. In the Sh¯hn¯ma, he is credited with building a a a a the city of Kirm¯n. This powerful worm—called the auspicious worm (kirm-i farrokh) in the Sh¯ha a n¯ma and varj¯vand in the K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n—who is the enemy of Ardash¯ I, feeds a a a a ı a a ır on the blood of cows, and can be destroyed only if it drinks zinc, as in the ordeal connected with establishing the veracity of a Mithraic oath (see page 356). The worm throws an arrow that is called the arrow of the cavalry of the victorious (asub¯r¯n-i varj¯vand), and his followers are idol aa a worshippers (uzdih parastandig¯n), who have been led astray from the worship of Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ a ua a and the Amahraspands. This passage contains a host of Mithraic symbols requiring further study. Ardashir 1963, pp. 188–192. The consensus seems to be that the abode of this worm is the coastal part of Persia. A reinvestigation of this story might be open, however, to the possibility that it takes place in northeastern Iran, perhaps in the dizh-i Kal¯t/Kal¯n¯n in Khur¯s¯n. Ardash¯ I and a a a a aa ır group of his followers, after all, disguise themselves in Khur¯s¯n¯ attire in order to dupe the worm aa ı and his subjects. For Haft¯nb¯kht, see Shaki, Mansour, ‘Haft¯nb¯kht’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), a u a u Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007b (Shaki 2007b) and Shahbazi, Shapur, ‘Haftv¯d’, in Ehsan a Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 535–537, New York, 1991e (Shahbazi 1991e), pp. 535–537. 2096 Ardashir 1963, pp. 176–180. See page 354 and footnote 2261. 2097 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 60. 2098 Ardashir 1963, p. 182. When Ardav¯n enquired about the meaning of this, he was told that the a ram symbolizes his farr. Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VII, p. 128, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 1935: ı ı
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1963, p. 195. For a more detailed account, see page 46. 1963, p. 195 (three times), p. 196 (twice). 2101 The Sh¯hn¯ma calls him Mihrak-i N¯ shz¯d and describes him as having Kay¯nid ancestry (Kai a a u a a Nizh¯d). Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 1953. In Tabar¯ Mihrak is “the king of Abars¯s, in the district of a ı ı, a . Ardash¯ Khurrah.” Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 10–11, and n. 34, de Goeje, 817. ır ı . 2102 Ardashir 1963, p. 188.
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§5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

The Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition is likewise infused with Mithraic concepts. a a The Sun as bestower of kingly power, the idea of contract (peym¯n) between a the king and his ﬂock, the Circle of Justice, and the concepts of d¯d o Mihr a (Justice and Mihr) are recurrent motifs in the Sh¯hn¯ma. Let us note a few a a instances in portions dealing with the rise of the Sasanians and their early his¯ tory. When B¯bak dreamt that S¯s¯n was carrying the three ﬁres of Adhar a aa ¯ Gushnasp, Adhar Farnbagh, and Burz¯ Mihr, the dream interpreters informed ın him that his dream signiﬁed that the kingship of S¯s¯n would appear through aa the Sun.2103 When B¯bak sent for S¯s¯n and asked his pedigree, the latter ina aa formed him that if he gave him his protection (zinh¯r), that is, refuge—again a a thoroughly Mithraic concept—and took his hand in contract (cho dastam big¯ı r¯ peym¯n bidast), then he would divulge his ancestry.2104 When Sh¯p¯r II apı a a u pointed his brother Ardash¯ II as regent for his minor son, Sh¯p¯r III, he did so ır a u on condition that Ardash¯ II entered in justice into a contract with him (gar b¯ ır a man az d¯d peym¯n kon¯).2105 Ardash¯ II kept to the terms of his contract.2106 a a ı ır

5.4

Mihr worship in the quarters of the north and east

The predominant form of religiosity during the Sasanian era in the northern and northeastern regions of Iran (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n and k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n) ruled u a a a u aa by the Parthian dynastic families, was not the orthodox Zoroastrianism propagated by the Sasanian m¯bads, but popular religious customs that betray strong o currents of Mihr worship. The precise nature of this Mihr worship and the rituals connected with it, and how it differed from the worship of Mihr in the orthodox Zoroastrian systems of belief, cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty given the evidence at our disposal at this point. What can be asserted, however, is that the Mihr worship prevalent in these regions of Iran was distinct from that which pertained to the orthodox Zoroastrian creed. As
2103 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. VII, p. 118, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 1925: ı
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2104 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. VII, p. 118, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 1925: ı
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2106 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. VII, p. 253, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2069: ı
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It should be noted that the use of the term peym¯n here does not seem to have any correspondence a with the philosophical and theological terminology of the right measure as discussed in Shaked, Shaul, ‘Paym¯n: An Iranian Idea in Contact with Greek Thought and Islam’, in Transition Periods a in Iranian History, vol. 5 of Societas Iranologica Europaea, pp. 217–240, Fribourg-en-Brisgau, 1987 (Shaked 1987).

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C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION §5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST

the territories under the control of the Parthian dynastic families were concentrated in the quarters of the north and the east, furthermore, and in line with the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav political rivalry, a general north–south dichotomy in religious matters seems to have existed through the Sasanian period. 5.4.1 Mihr worship in Tabarist¯n a .

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1983b, pp. 446–447. Yarshater notes the “original location of the lands that the Iranians called M¯zandar¯n as a a well as the meaning of the name is somewhat problematic. It was applied originally to a hostile land of different cultic beliefs known to the Iranians in their legendary period. Its use as an appellation for Tabarist¯n is fairly late and probably dates from late Sasanian times.” Yarshater 1983b, p. 446. a . 2109 Vendidad 1880, §19.28. 2110 See page 321. 2111 Humback, H., ‘Mithra in the Kus¯na Period’, in John R. Hinnells (ed.), Mithraic Studies: Pro.a . ceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies, vol. I, pp. 135–141, 1975 (Humback
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In the remainder of this chapter, we explore the Mithraic traditions in the quarters of the north and the east, traditionally controlled by the Parthian dynastic families. The primacy of Mihr worship in these regions is reﬂected in the Iranian national tradition. The stories of a host of primary ﬁgures in the mythic sections of this tradition, ﬁgures around whom Mihr symbolism coalesce, are appropriated by the Pahlav regions, most notably Tabarist¯n. It must a . be pointed out from the outset that the association of the events and ﬁgures which will be enumerated below with Tabarist¯n was the result of a later identia . ﬁcation of the mythical region of M¯zandar¯n from the national tradition with a a Tabarist¯n.2107 It has been claimed that this association might have occurred in a . the late Sasanian period. Regardless, however, of when this identiﬁcation occurred, it is very likely that it was instigated by the Parthian dynastic families. The fact that the original location of M¯zandar¯n from the national tradition a a is obscure2108 does not undermine the signiﬁcance of the fact that the motifs, symbols, and primary ﬁgures of the national tradition, all of which have strong Mithraic associations, were appropriated by regions ruled by Parthian dynastic families during the Sasanian period. To begin with, according to a tradition contained in the Videvd¯d, the a abode of the yazata Mithra was in the Alburz mountains.2109 In the original Iranian myth of creation, however, Mithra’s dwelling was on the Peak of Har¯. The identiﬁcation of the primordial Mount Har¯ with Dam¯vand in the a a a Alburz mountains may be viewed as an example of the regional development of Zoroastrianism and the appropriation of signiﬁcant motifs and episodes of the Mazdean religion by various regions.2110 Only in Tabarist¯n, however, do a . we ﬁnd the identiﬁcation of the abode of Mithra with a local mountain chain. When precisely this identiﬁcation of the dwelling of Mithra with Dam¯vand a came to be made is not clear. What is clear, however, is that the Mithraic myths co-opted by the northern regions run through a number of other episodes of the mythic sections of the Iranian tradition. In the Videvd¯d, therefore, “Mithra a is said to approach across the Alburz mountains in front of the sun!”2111 From

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§5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

Dam¯vand, Mithra watched over the world, through 360 windows.2112 Mount a Dam¯vand, the highest peak in the Alburz mountains, was located in Padhasha khw¯rgar, later considered part of the quarter of the north.2113 a Fereyd¯n u Dam¯vand was not only identiﬁed with Mithra, however. It is also the birtha place of the paramount and primary mythic P¯ ad¯ king of the national traıshd¯ ı dition, Fereyd¯n.2114 His birth took place toward the end of the millennium u during which the evil foreigner Dahh¯k ruled over Iran.2115 According to the . . .a national tradition, when Dahh¯k destroyed the P¯ ad¯ king Jamsh¯ (Yima), ıshd¯ ı ıd . . .a Fereyd¯n’s mother took refuge in the Dam¯vand mountains, where the boy u a Fereyd¯n was born and whence he came out of hiding at the age of sixteen.2116 u What is signiﬁcant for our purposes about the association of Fereyd¯n with u Tabarist¯n, however, is that potent Mithraic symbols surround this primary a . mythic king of Iran. In fact, it might be argued that the ﬁgure of Fereyd¯n u represents the God Mihr.2117 According to the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, when Dahaı a . . . h¯k destroyed Jamsh¯ the descendants of this P¯ ad¯ king were left distant ıd, ıshd¯ ı .a from the shadows of the Sun (az s¯yih-i kh¯rsh¯d nuf¯r o mahj¯r shudand).2118 a u ı u u The deeds of Fereyd¯n, the king with farr (xwarra, Khvarenah), and the slayer u of Dahh¯k, therefore, are appropriately compared to that of the luminous Sun . . .a a by the Sh¯hn¯ma.2119 When Fereyd¯n prepared to battle Dahh¯k in Tabarist¯n, a a u . . . .a he ﬁrst raised his head to the Sun.2120 In Tabarist¯n, with the aid of the yazata a .
1975), p. 137. 2112 Yarshater 1983a, p. 351. 2113 See page 40 for a delimitation of this region. 2114 According to the Avest¯, Fereyd¯ n was born in Varena, “identiﬁed in later sources with Var, a a u village in the area of L¯r¯ an,” near Dam¯vand Vendidad 1880, §1.17. According to Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a ıj¯ a a a tradition contained in Tabar¯ Fereyd¯n was born in Dam¯vand itself. For Fereyd¯n, see Yarshater ı, u a u . 1983b, pp. 427–429; Tafazzoli, Ahmad, ‘Fereyd¯n’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, u New York, 2007 (Tafazzoli 2007); and the sources cited therein. For the P¯ ad¯ dynasty in the ıshd¯ ı Iranian national history, see Yarshater 1983b, pp. 420–436, as well as footnote 131. 2115 According to the Sh¯hn¯ma, the tyrant Dahh¯k, who ruled Iran for 1000 years, was of Arab a a . . .a descent. His tyranny was caused by the kiss of Ahr¯ ıman (the Force of Evil) on his shoulders. Snakes grew in place of this. In order to feed these, the brains of two young boys had to be fed to the tyrant daily. The tyrant’s chefs substituted the brain of a sheep for one of these. K¯veh, the blacksmith, a seventeen of whose sons had been fed to Dahh¯k, ultimately led a rebellion that overthrew Dahh¯k, . . .a . . .a and returned the crown to the Iranian king, Fereyd¯n. Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 69–114. u ı 2116 Ferdows¯ 1935. ı 2117 Kay¯ marth, the ﬁrst king of the national tradition and the prototype of man in the religious u tradition, has also been identiﬁed with Mithra, or a brother of Mithra. See Yarshater 1983b, pp. 372– 373, and 416. Unlike Fereyd¯n and a number of other primary ﬁgures of the national tradition, u however, his ﬁgure is not co-opted by the regional traditions of the north. 2118 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 57. ıy¯ 2119 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. I, p. 57: ı
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2120 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. I, p. 66:
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C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION §5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST

Sor¯sh and using the bull-headed mace,2121 Fereyd¯n captured Dahh¯k.2122 The u u . . .a victory is celebrated on Mihrig¯n,2123 one of the most cherished festivals of the a Iranians, which therefore came to be associated with the northern regions of Iran, the land of the Pahlav. Mihrig¯n a The festival of Mihrig¯n, as the name implies, was devoted to the God Mihr. a Traditionally an autumn festival, through the Sasanian and the early Islamic period, it was “scarcely less well loved than the Spring festival of N¯ R¯z.”2124 In o u fact B¯ un¯ observes that “some people have given the preference to Mihrig¯n ır¯ ı a by as much as they prefer autumn to spring.”2125 While Mihrig¯n continued to a be celebrated by orthodox Zoroastrians during the Sasanian period, however, it was a festival that was essentially untouched by Zoroastrianism.2126 As one of the ancient attributes of Mihr was his eschatological function,2127 so too was the eschatological dimension of Mihrig¯n very signiﬁcant, for according to B¯ a ır¯n¯ “the Iranians who believe in ta w¯l . . . also believe Mihrig¯n to be a sign of u ı, ı a resurrection and the end of the world, . . . For they argue that on this day that which grows reaches its perfection.”2128 Signiﬁcantly, the festival “was also a time for rallying the forces of good to oppose the demons of the coming winter and darkness,” for Mihr “was one of the great ﬁghting divinities of Zoroastrianism, a champion for the kingdom of righteousness.”2129 It was also believed that the pact between Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ and Ahr¯ ua a ıman “which ﬁxes the period of
It is worth noting that the derafsh-i K¯v¯y¯n, which the legendary hero K¯veh fashioned out of a ı a a hide, presumably cow’s hide, when he instigated a rebellion on behalf of Fereyd¯n against Dahh¯k, u . . .a was also imbued with Mithraic symbolism. It not only symbolizes the just struggle of K¯veh against a the unjust usurper Dahh¯k, but also becomes the symbol of the farr for Iranian kings. The Sh¯hn¯a a . . .a ma maintains that in the darkness of the night, the derafsh, being bejeweled, shone like the very sun. Christensen, who pointed out that this legend is not found in the Avest¯ or other Mazdean theoa logical books and must, therefore, belong to the Sasanian period, argued that the legend probably reﬂected the fame of the K¯rin family, who considered themselves the descendants of K¯veh. As we a a will discuss in §5.4.3 below, there is every indication that the K¯rins were in fact Mihr worshippers. a Wikander even argued that the derafsh became the national banner of Iran during the Arsacid period. See Christensen 1944, pp. 502–503 and n. 5; and Motlagh, Djalal Khaleghi, ‘Derafsh-e K¯v¯¯n’, a ea in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007b (Motlagh 2007b). 2121 Yarshater 1983b, p. 372. The ox-headed mace is also called the mace of Mithra; see footnote 2155 below. 2122 Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 114. ı 2123 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 35–36; B¯ un¯ 1984, pp. 337–338. a ı ır¯ ı 2124 Boyce, Mary, ‘Iranian Festivals’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3(2), pp. 792–815, Cambridge University Press, 1983a (Boyce 1983a), p. 801. 2125 B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 339; Boyce 1983a, p. 801. ır¯ ı 2126 Hinnells, John R., ‘Reﬂections on the Bull-Slaying Scene’, Mithraic Studies 2, (1975), pp. 290– 312 (Hinnells 1975), p. 307. 2127 See page 353. 2128 B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 339. ır¯ ı 2129 B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 338; Boyce 1983a, pp. 801–802. Emphasis added. We should stress that Boyce is ır¯ ı only referring here to the position of Mihr in Mazdean doctrine.

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their struggle, was made at Mihrig¯n, since Mihr is the lord of all covenants.”2130 a Mihrig¯n was celebrated by the Sasanian kings and commoners alike. For our a purposes, its signiﬁcance, besides its obvious Mithraic provenance, was that it represented the popular celebration of the defeat of Dahh¯k by Fereyd¯n. In u . . .a the popular imagination, Dahh¯k’s defeat took place in Tabarist¯n. Signiﬁa . . .a . cantly, the very ﬁrst ﬁre temple built by Fereyd¯n was also believed to have u been in the city of Tus,2131 in the vicinity of which, we recall, the Burz¯ Mihr ın .¯ ﬁre was located. We should add to our list of locations carrying theophoric Mithraic names,2132 a village called Mihrij¯n (the Arabicized version of Mihria g¯n), in the environs of N¯ ap¯r.2133 a ısh¯ u In order to defeat Dahh¯k, a bull-headed mace was constructed for Ferey. . .a d¯n. This mace too is likened to the high Sun in the Sh¯hn¯ma.2134 In his ﬁght u a a against the quintessential symbol of injustice, Dahh¯k, Fereyd¯n is naturally u . . .a the quintessential symbol of justice rising from Tabarist¯n. After his defeat a . u of Dahh¯k, when on the day of Mihr, Fereyd¯n crowned himself, “the times . . .a became bereft of evil and people began to follow the path of wisdom.”2135 The religion of Fereyd¯n, the Sh¯hn¯ma ﬁnally maintains, is the worship of Mihriu a a g¯n.2136 Once he defeated Dahh¯k in Tabarist¯n, from the Alburz mountains, a a . . .a . Fereyd¯n circled around the globe, and saw what was hidden and manifest. u With his benevolence he forbade every manifestation of evil and restored every land that had been ridden with destruction. The regions which were barren, he cultivated, making the world paradise incarnate.2137 Like Mihr, therefore, Fereyd¯n had his abode in the Dam¯vand mountains, from where he rose. Like u a Mihr, raising his head to the Sun, he restored kingship, here to himself. Like Mihr circling the globe from Dam¯vand, Fereyd¯n circled the world, and like a u
p. 338; Boyce 1983a, p. 802. Emphasis added. Ab¯ ’l-Fatah Muhammad, al-Milal wa ’l-Nihal, Tehran, 1971, translated by Afdal u . . . al-Din Isfahani and edited by Seyyed Muhammad Riza Jalal Na’ini (Shahrist¯n¯ 1971), p. 269. a ı 2132 See, for instance, footnote 2081. 2133 Istakhr¯ Kit¯b al-Mas¯lik wa ’l-Mam¯lik, Leiden, 1927, edited by M.J. de Goeje (Istakhr¯ 1927), ı, a a a ı .. .. pp. 205, 223. 2134 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. I, p. 66: ı
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2136 Ferdows¯ 1935, ı

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C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION §5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST

Mihr watching over the world through 360 windows,2138 Fereyd¯n saw all to u be seen and that which was hidden. Like Mihr, he actively destroyed evil and injustice, and as Mihr he had a nourishing function. Finally, like Mihr, he advocated Mihrig¯n.2139 a The cow in Mihr worship The central role of the cow in the narratives of Fereyd¯n and Tabarist¯n likeu a . wise connects Fereyd¯n to Mihr.2140 According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, when Fereyu ıy¯ d¯n came of age, he left the Dam¯vand region as a result of its unsuitability for u a cultivation and migrated to the environs of Shal¯b on account of its pastures and a the fact that the population of the region subsisted from the breeding of kine and the proﬁts that accrued from this.2141 At the age of seven Fereyd¯n would u ﬁx halters to the cow’s snout and make a riding beast of it. Each day Fereyd¯n u would ride the cow out hunting and in pursuit of other affairs until he reached the prime of his life (bi rowq-i shab¯b res¯d). While seated on the cow, accorda ı ing to the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, “one would think that from the reﬂection of the aı a . heavenly bodies on earth another sun is rising from Taurus.”2142 Here, he takes the form of a constellation crossing the sky, to wit, Thawr or Taurus, the sign of the bull. The imagery of the Sun, Taurus, and the riding ﬁgure on it, namely
1983a, p. 351. Ferdows¯ comments that Fereyd¯n was not an angel (Amahraspand). It was on ı u account of his justice and kindness that he found the good fortune. Ferdows¯ seems to be replying ı here to what must have been a prevalent popular interpretation of this myth of Fereyd¯n, for u according to B¯ un¯ some people thought that during Mihrig¯n the angels came to the aid of Fereyır¯ ı a d¯n. B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 338: u ır¯ ı
2139 Signiﬁcantly,
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2140 The nature of the terrain in both Tabarist¯n as well as G¯ an is such that the breeding of kine a ıl¯ . was one of the central economic activities of the region. So much so that to this day cows are a central part of the landscape in this region. The symbolic connection of the cow with Taba. rist¯n, however, continues to be especially signiﬁcant for, except in the lush Caspian provinces, a as Insler argues, “cattle never prospered well in the barrenness of Iran.” Gathas 1975, The G¯th¯s a a of Zarathustra, vol. 8 of Acta Iranica, 1975, translated by Stanley Insler (Gathas 1975), quoted in Harper, Prudence O., ‘The Ox-Headed Mace in Pre-Islamic Iran’, in Papers in Honour of Professor Mary Boyce, vol. 24 of Acta Iranica, pp. 248–265, Leiden, 1985 (Harper 1985), p. 248, n. 9. 2141 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 57: ıy¯
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As Tafazzoli maintains the connection of Fereyd¯n with cattle in general is noteworthy. The u totemic ancestors of the hero are mentioned with the sufﬁx g¯w, cow. In “Islamic and Middle a Persian sources Fr¯d¯n is made a descendant of Jamsh¯d by ten generations, the names of which e o e are sufﬁxed by the word g¯v, cow.” Tafazzoli 2007; Yarshater 1983b, p. 429. Like the T¯r¯kh-i a aı Tabarist¯n, the association of Fereyd¯n with the cow is replete in the Sh¯hn¯ma: he is said to be a u a a . ı raised, for example, by a cow. Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. I, pp. 57–58, 60–61, 66, 70. For other imagery of the bovine associated with Fereyd¯n, see Tafazzoli 2007. u 2142 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 57: ıy¯

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§5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

Fereyd¯n, the king who is endowed with Divine Glory, replicates in minute u detail the Mithraic tauroctony,2143 except that, unlike Mithras, the young man atop the cow is not depicted as killing the animal.2144 In this manner and in the prime of his life Fereyd¯n improved the affairs of his people and managed u to gather the inhabitants of the region, including, signiﬁcantly, those of the K¯rin Mountain (K¯h-i K¯rin). At this point, according to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, Fea u a ıy¯ reyd¯n’s followers built him an ox-headed mace (gorz) with which he captured u Dahh¯k.2145 So central was the role of Fereyd¯n in the popular memory of Tau . . .a . barist¯n that Ibn Isfand¯ ar, writing in the thirteenth century, maintains that a ıy¯ the remnants of his constructions in his capital Tamm¯ ısha (nishast-i j¯y-i khud) a are still in existence.2146 From the narrative of Fereyd¯n in the national trau dition to the history of Tabarist¯n during the Sasanian period to the accounts a . of the revolts in the region in the post-conquest period, the cow motif appears with a frequency unparalleled in the narratives of any other region of the Ira¯ nian plateau. Mihr worship and cow symbolism were also embraced by the Al-i J¯m¯sp family, the family of G¯vb¯rih, the Cow-Devotee, who ruled in Tabaa a a a . rist¯n from the sixth through the mid-eighth century.2147 Finally, it is worth a noting that according to Y¯q¯t, the inhabitants of Tus were called “the cows,” a u .¯ Y¯q¯t expressing disdain about its meaning.2148 a u The cow had always been considered sacred in orthodox Zoroastrianism.2149 Before the relatively late domestication of the camel and the horse among the Indo–Iranians, the cow was considered the most valuable domesticated animal. From early on, therefore, a cow or a bull (g¯v) became “traditionally the best a offering men could make to the gods.” The primordial bull also plays a central role in Zoroastrian cosmogony. In the Zoroastrian myth of creation, it is from the sacriﬁcial slaughter of the cow that all animal life spreads across the g¯t¯g (material world). Nonetheless, it has been argued that the soteriological ıı dimensions of the sacriﬁce of the bull was pre-Zoroastrian and in all probability Mithraic. The cow holds a signiﬁcant place in Mithraic/Mihr religious
footnote 2150. David, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries: Cosmology and Salvation in the Ancient ¯ a World, Oxford University Press, 1989 (Ulansey 1989). In Ath¯r al-B¯qiya, B¯ un¯ gives a similar a ır¯ ı depiction of this mythic episode. When night came, a cow made up of light, with horns of gold, and feet of silver appeared, carrying the wheel of the moon, the whole scene appearing and disappearing ır¯ ı at intervals. B¯ un¯ gives this under his discussion of the celebration on the day of Mihr of the month of Day, and maintains that Iranians celebrate this festival because on this day Iran freed itself from the rule of Turkist¯n, and retrieved the cows which the Turkist¯nis had stolen from them. a a B¯ un¯ 1984, pp. 345–346. ır¯ ı 2145 In the Ath¯r al-B¯qiya, Fereyd¯ n swore on the “blood of the cow that was in [his] ancestor’s ¯ a a u house” to kill Dahh¯k. B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 339. ır¯ ı . . .a 2146 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 58. For the signiﬁcance of aspects of Iranian national history in the ıy¯ popular memory of various regions in Iran, as contained in the local historiographical tradition, see Pourshariati 2000. 2147 See §4.3, especially page 302. 2148 Yaq¯ t al-Hamaw¯ 1866, vol. 3, pp. 561–562. u ı 2149 Boyce, Mary, ‘Cattle: II. In Zoroastrianism’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 80–84, New York, 1991c (Boyce 1991c).
2144 Ulansey, 2143 See

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rituals, customs, and doctrine. In the Roman Mithraic tauroctony,2150 the sacriﬁce of the bull by Mithras is of a central and crucial signiﬁcance.2151 Under the Achaemenids, the focal point of the autumnal festival of Mihrig¯n was the a “sacriﬁce of a bull, or its substitute, to Mithra.”2152 The sacrosanct function of the cow in the Zoroastrian creed, therefore, seems to have a Mithraic heritage. At the initiation ceremony of a Mazdean priest, for example, the m¯bad is given o the famous bull-headed mace, the gorz. These gorzes are “carried at major ceremonies and decorate the wall of Zoroastrian temples.”2153 A Zoroastrian priest carries the mace “as a symbol of the moral ﬁght which he is taking up against evil.”2154 The gorz, like Mihrig¯n, however, does not have a Zoroastrian origin, a and even in the orthodox Zoroastrian creed it is acknowledged as the mace of Mithra.2155 As Hinnells points out, the designation of “the whole ﬁre temple . . . as dar-i Mihr, the gateway or court of Mithra,” as well as the ritual dimensions of the cow motif, could “have developed only if Mithra was traditionally a god of outstanding ritual signiﬁcance.”2156 Man¯chihr u Further evidence for the prevalence of Mihr worship in the northern regions is found in the story of the P¯ ad¯ king Man¯chihr,2157 which begins a new ıshd¯ ı u chapter of the Iranian national history. As Yarshater observes, with the advent of Man¯chihr, “the world is no longer ruled by a single king.” The ferocious u feud between the Iranians and the T¯r¯nians2158 starts during the reign of this ua king, where he is the ﬁrst to have to reckon with a powerful enemy king. A derivative of this king’s name, Manush,2159 is directly connected with the north, for the Bundahishn identiﬁes Manush as a mountain belonging to the Alburz
2150 In Roman Mithraism, in the Mithraea (Mithraic temples) scattered around the Mediterranean world, the central scene of the murals depicts the God Mithras killing a sacred bull. 2151 Hinnells 1975, p. 308. 2152 Hinnells 1975, p. 307. This practice continued into the Sasanian period: In gratitude for victory over his enemies, for example, the Sasanian king Yazdgird II (459–484) “increased the sacriﬁces of ﬁre with white bulls and hairy goats, . . . [and] assiduously multiplied his impure cult.” Elish¯ 1982, e ˙ p. 66. 2153 Hinnells 1975, p. 308. 2154 Boyce 1983a, p. 802. 2155 Besides Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative, the bull-headed mace (gorz-i g¯vsar) of Fereyd¯ n is also menıy¯ a u ı’s a a ı’s a ı’s tioned in the Sh¯hn¯ma; Ibn Balkh¯ F¯rsn¯ma, Tabar¯ Annals, and Tha ¯lib¯ Ghurar. Tafazzoli a a . 2007, p. 429 and the references cited there in. For the gorz, see Doostkhah, Jalil, ‘Gorz’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 1991 (Doostkhah 1991). The ox-headed mace was also the weapon of Rustam, G¯v, Isfand¯ ar, and Gusht¯sp. Harper 1985, p. 248. e ıy¯ a 2156 Hinnells 1975, p. 308. 2157 Man¯ chihr, whose name (Middle Persian Manushchihr) means from the race of Manu, and is u regarded in India as “the ﬁrst man and father of the human race,” is only mentioned in the Avest¯ a once, and then only in the Yashts. Frawardin Yasht 1883, §131; Yarshater 1983b, pp. 432–433. 2158 For the T¯ r¯nians, Iran’s arch-enemies in the national tradition, later identiﬁed with the Turks, ua see Yarshater 1983b, pp. 408–409. 2159 Zamyad Yasht 1883, §1.

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chain, where Man¯chihr was born.2160 In his wars against the T¯r¯nian Afr¯s¯ u ua a ıy¯b, Man¯chihr habitually took refuge in Tabarist¯n.2161 Man¯chihr, who was a u a u . one of the ﬁrst mythic kings to acquire a reputation for justice and equity ( adl o n¯k¯y¯),2162 declared in the Sh¯hn¯ma that he was both “wrath and warfare ı u ı a a as well as justice and Mihr,” virtually identifying himself, in other words, with the god. He ordered the people of Iran to engage in agriculture as well as cattle breeding.2163 Another important Mithraic aspect of Man¯chihr’s ﬁgure is the popular u etymology of his name. According to the Bundahishn,2164 the king acquired his name when the rays of the sun fell on his face at the time of his birth. Man¯u chihr also inherited the farr (xwarra) of Fereyd¯n. Like Fereyd¯n, Man¯chihr u u u acquired this farr from the sun Mihr. According to Ibn Balkh¯ the father of Maı, n¯chihr was called M¯ u ıshkhury¯r, which Ibn Balkh¯ translates as the “constant a ı companion of the rays of the sun (ham¯shih ¯ft¯by¯r).”2165 Man¯chihr’s chief ı a a a u achievement, however, was his role as the avenger of the murder of the favorite son of Fereyd¯n, Iraj, who was killed by his brothers.2166 As we shall see, the u Mithraic motif of revenge for a wrongful murder also appears in the revolts of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ in the late sixth century, and of Sunb¯d in the early Abb¯sid a u ın a a period, testifying to the continuity of the Mithraic tradition in the region.2167 ¯ The collaboration of Man¯chihr’s sp¯hbeds, K¯rin and Arash, the presumed u a a progenitors of respectively the K¯rins and the Mihr¯ns, with the king of Tabaa a . ¯ rist¯n is also detailed in the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n.2168 The legendary hero Arash a aı a . appeared from Tabarist¯n during Man¯chihr’s war with T¯r¯n. In order to dea u ua . termine the boundaries between Iran and T¯r¯n, Arash, “the best bowman of ua ¯ Iran . . . [and] helped by divine guidance,” shot an arrow that landed somewhere ¯ in the east.2169 Arash’s arrow left his bow at sunrise, and landed at its destination at sunset, thus mimicking the movement of Mihr’s sun chariot.2170 The ¯ bow shot of Arash established a contract between the two peoples, which, sig¯ niﬁcantly, Afr¯s¯ ab broke by attacking Iran.2171 It was to Arash of Rayy that a ıy¯
2160 According to Bal am¯ some traditions maintain that the birthplace of Man¯ chihr was Rayy. ı u Bal am¯ 1959, p. 33. After his defeat at the hands of Afr¯s¯ ab, Bal am¯ maintains, Man¯chihr was ı a ıy¯ ı u ¯ held captive in the city of Amul in Tabarist¯n. Ibid., p. 34. a . 2161 Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 119. ı 2162 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 68, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 50. a ı a ı 2163 Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 50, Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 68: a ı a ı
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1990, p. 150. Balkh¯ 1995, p. 67. ı 2166 Yarshater 1983b, p. 434. 2167 See respectively pages 413 and 443 below. 2168 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 60–62. ıy¯ 2169 B¯ un¯ maintains that the bow was shot from the R¯ y¯n mountain in Tabarist¯n. B¯ un¯ 1984, ır¯ ı u a a ır¯ ı . pp. 334–335. 2170 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 133–134, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 90–91. a ı a ı 2171 Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 91, 95, 96. It is important to note that the story of Arash is not found in ¯ a ı
2165 Ibn

2164 Bundahishn

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the Parthian Mihr¯nid dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ traced his genealogy. Like Fea a u ın reyd¯n, all the attributes of Man¯chihr, his court in Tabarist¯n, his justice and u u a . wrath, his nourishing function, his association with the sun, as well as those of ¯ the Tabarist¯n¯ hero appearing during his reign, Arash, with his bow that fola ı . lowed the movement of the sun, all these attributes replicate those of the God Mihr. Exactly when the primary mythic ﬁgures of the P¯ ad¯ section of the naıshd¯ ı ¯ tional tradition, such as Fereyd¯n, Man¯chihr, and Arash, acquired such heavu u ily laden Mihr symbolism cannot be ascertained. That an intimate relationship between these ﬁgures and the north was established under the patronage of the Parthian dynasts ruling these domains, however, warrants serious consideration. But Mihr symbols are not conﬁned to the mythic history of Tabarist¯n; a . they are also found in it historical narratives in other crucial ways. The history ¯ of the house of Al-i J¯m¯sp, a cadet branch of the Sasanians,2172 also contains a a potent symbols of Mihr worship, above all the symbols of the cow and the sun. Before we proceed, we must recall that J¯m¯sp (497–499), the brother of Qua a b¯d, was not only accused of having Mazdakite proclivity, but also carries the a epithet mihtar-parast in the Sh¯hn¯ma. As we shall see in the revolts chapter,2173 a a Ferdows¯ rendition of J¯m¯sp as a mihtar-parast is only the poetic license used ı’s a a by the author for rendering the term Mihr parast, a worshipper of Mihr. Therefore, once again, one must entertain the connection of Mihr worship with the Mazdakite doctrine. Three generations after J¯m¯sp, we recall, in the reign of J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, a a ıl-i ıl¯ a ¯ parts of Tabarist¯n were ﬁnally conquered by the Al-i J¯m¯sp, a family who a a a . had hitherto had their base in G¯ an.2174 It is appropriate to brieﬂy recall Ibn ıl¯ Isfand¯ ar’s account, which is replete with Mihr symbolism. The astrologers ıy¯ predicted greatness for P¯ uz,2175 the son of J¯m¯sp, and informed him that his ır¯ a a grandson will be a great king. P¯ uz’s grandson, hearing the same prophecy, ır¯ left deputies in G¯ an, picked up two cows and went on foot to Tabarist¯n,2176 ıl¯ a . which was still reeling from the Arab incursions at the tumultuous end of Yazdgird III’s rule. According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, his courage earned J¯ J¯ ansh¯h the ıy¯ ıl-i ıl¯ a epithet G¯vb¯rih, the Cow Devotee. According to Am¯ b¯rih actually means a a ıd, a friend (d¯st). This Mihr symbolism connected with J¯m¯sp and his progeny is u a a augmented by Mithraic theophoric names of this dynasty. Among the descendants of J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, we ﬁnd D¯dhmihr (bestowed by Mihr) and Khursh¯ ıl-i ıl¯ a a ıd

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the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 90, n. 1, Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 134–135, 139, 140, where a a ı. a ı a ı the following phrases are speciﬁcally used:
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§4.3. page 398. 2174 See §4.3.3. 2175 See §4.3.2. 2176 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 153–154. ıy¯
2173 See

2172 See

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§5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

(the Sun).2177 Except in the Parthian epic-romance of Samak, where the main king of Iran is called the Sun-King (Khursh¯ Sh¯h)—a ﬁgure who acquires his ıd a name in precisely the same manner as the P¯ ad¯ king Man¯chihr, that is, ıshd¯ ı u when the rays of the sun touch his nose—to my knowledge, no other historical dynast bears such a theophoric name in the annals of Iranian history of classical antiquity. Khursh¯ moreover, collaborated with the Iranian rebel Sunb¯d, ıd, a who revolted against the Abb¯sids,2178 and who encouraged his numerous fola lowers to pray to the Sun and make it their qibla.2179 5.4.2 Mihr worship among the Mihr¯n a

As we have seen, the Parthian families pitted the ﬁre of Burz¯ Mihr against ın the Sasanians,2180 took refuge in the said ﬁre as a matter of habit, and continued to use Mithraic theophoric names. Among these Parthian dynasts rose the families of the Mihr¯ns and the K¯rins, whose historical and anecdotal nara a ratives are replete with Mihr worship. The earliest evidence we have for the prevalence of Mihr worship in the quarters of the north and the east during the Sasanian era is provided by the rebellion of the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın. As the theophoric name of this dynastic family suggests, Mihr worship was, in all probability, the predominant form of religion among this family and the populations under their control. Incorporated within Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ soa u ın’s ciopolitical and ideological antagonism toward the Sasanians, was, therefore, as we shall see, a religious rivalry.2181 Both Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and his grandfather, a u ın whom Sebeos calls Gołon Mihr¯n, are given the epithet Mihrewandak, Slave of a Mihr.2182 This epithet is reiterated by Ferdows¯ although in a more poetic renı, ¯ dering.2183 The focal point of the rebel’s worship was not the royal ﬁres Adhar ¯ Farnbagh or Adhar Gushnasp, but the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre, to which Bahr¯m-i ın a Ch¯b¯ compares himself in the poetic rendering of Ferdows¯ An avowed goal u ın ı. of the Mihr¯nid rebel was the destruction of the m¯bad-controlled ﬁre temples a o of the Sasanians. The Sasanians’ destruction of ﬁre temples, as evidenced in the Letter of Tansar and K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n, should therefore be viewed a a ı a a in the context of the continuing P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav religious rivalry. The concomitant Mihr¯nid agenda of obliterating the celebrations of Sadih and Nowr¯z is a u surely signiﬁcant in this connection as well, although the precise meaning of this remains unclear.2184

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whom see §4.5; for his coinage, see Justi 1895, p. 430. §6.4. 2179 See §6.4.2. 2180 See page 364. 2181 For an in depth discussion of this aspect of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a u ın’s rebellion, see §6.1. 2182 See pages 103 and 399. 2183 For further discussion, see §6.1, especially page 399. 2184 See footnote 2319. Although it is known that the feast of “Sada was celebrated by the king and commoner alike” during the Sasanian period, the celebration of this festival was speciﬁcally associated with the ﬁrst Sasanian king, Ardash¯ I. It is very probable, therefore, that Bahr¯m-i ır a Ch¯b¯ was here referring to a Zoroastrian feast that was directly associated with the Sasanian u ın
2178 See

2177 On

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C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION §5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST

Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion was also attended by strong millennial moa u ın’s tifs.2185 While in the legitimist Sasanian apocalyptic rendition of the rebellion, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ is depicted as an illegitimate low-born rebel, in an alternaa u ın tive rendition, most probably articulated by the Mihr¯ns, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın’s rebellion is sanctioned by Mihr himself, the very agent of eschatology. Bahr¯ma i Ch¯b¯ moreover sustains the connection of Mihr worship to Tabarist¯n, u ın a . ¯ claiming descent from the heroic archer Arash, and from Mil¯d (Mithradates, a bestowed by Mithra). 5.4.3 Mihr worship among the K¯rin a

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monarchy. B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 350. Boyce 1983a, p. 801. ır¯ ı 2185 Czegledy 1958, p. 21. See §6.1.2 for a further examination of this. 2186 For the deﬁnition of Inner Khur¯s¯n, see §6.2.1. aa 2187 Justi 1895, p. 430. 2188 Gyselen 2001a, seals 1b and A, pp. 36 and 46. See page 114. 2189 See §2.3 for a detailed account of this. 2190 See §2.4.2. 2191 See §2.4.4. 2192 See page 114, where we substantiated this claim through sigillographic evidence.

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The Mihr¯ns, however, were not the only Parthian dynasts of the north that a espoused Mihr worship. A strong Mithraic current is also evident among the K¯rins, whose home territories had come to be in the quarter of the east, in Taa . barist¯n and parts of Inner Khur¯s¯n,2186 near the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre. Our ﬁrst a aa ın evidence to this effect is again theophoric. Of the six known progenies of the towering K¯rinid Sukhr¯, three bear Mithraic names: Zarmihr (537–558), D¯da a a mihr (558–575), and Mihr (600–620).2187 Sigillographic evidence further corroborates the K¯rin’s Mithraic propensities: the seals of D¯dmihr, the K¯rinid a a a ea a aa ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of Khur¯s¯n with a clearly Mithraic theophoric name, underline, we recall, that he took refuge into the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre, the regional Parthian ın ﬁre of Khur¯s¯n.2188 Apart from theophoric and sigillographic evidence, the aa most poignant and explicit afﬁrmation of the K¯rins’ Mihr worship, however, a comes through the course of an extremely signiﬁcant narrative pertaining to the reigns of P¯ uz and Khusrow I. In it, the K¯rins are depicted as heroes in whom ır¯ a all the attributes of the yazata Mihr coalesce. Although P¯ uz (459–484) owed his throne to the Mihr¯nid Rah¯m,2189 it ır¯ a a was during the reign of this same Sasanian king, we recall, that the K¯rins began a their spiraling rise to power: they essentially ruled the empire during the reigns of P¯ uz, Bil¯sh (484–488), and the young Qub¯d (488–531).2190 In reaction to ır¯ a a the overpowering and suffocating hold of Sukhr¯ and the other K¯rins on him, a a where the very taxation of the realm came to Sukhr¯’s treasury, Qub¯d was a a ﬁnally able to rid himself of the tremendous hold of the K¯rins with the aid of a the Mihr¯nid Sh¯p¯r of Rayy (Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ 2191 According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, a a u a u a ı). ıy¯ it was in the aftermath of this and the Mazdakite uprising that Qub¯d sent the a K¯rins into exile, the fortunes of the family being resuscitated, once again, by a Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, when he gave the sp¯hbed¯ of the east to the K¯rins.2192 ırv¯ a ı a

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§5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

The green-clad army Now the narrative under examination here deals with the wars of P¯ uz and ır¯ Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an in the east and the role that the K¯rins played in these. ırv¯ a We can begin by the rendition of this narrative in the work of Ibn Isfand¯ ar, ıy¯ the Tabarist¯n¯ author whose work contains—in disjointed form—the saga of a ı . his compatriots, the K¯rins, from the reign of P¯ uz onward, including the rea ır¯ bellion of the K¯rinid M¯z¯ ar during the early Abb¯sid period. According to a a ıy¯ a the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, in one of Khusrow I’s battles against the Turkish Kh¯aı a a . q¯n, unexpectedly, an army of about two to three thousand emerged—it is not a clear whence—all clad in green attire, so much so that “all except their eyes and [that of?] their horses was covered in green.” Donning green and hurling green ﬂags, they aided Khusrow I to victory, setting out to leave the battle arena in the same mysterious way in which they had appeared. None could ascertain their provenance. They disregarded Khusrow I’s numerous appeals as to their identity, until he ﬁnally dismounted his horse and implored them to God and the ﬁres, when they ﬁnally halted to converse with the king and revealed themselves to be K¯rins. At this point Ibn Isfand¯ ar informs us that there is a background a ıy¯ to this episode and narrates the story of P¯ uz’s disastrous defeat at the hand of ır¯ the Hephthalites. As we shall see shortly, in almost all the Arabic, Persian, and Armenian sources, P¯ uz’s defeat at the hands of the Hephthalites is explicitly connected ır¯ to his oath-breaking and injustice, and he is represented as a king who epitomizes folly. In all these narratives, moreover, the king’s folly, his oath breaking, and the disastrous consequences of these were all amended and set straight by the activities of the K¯rins.2193 Now, as a god who represents the three funca tions of royalty, warrior caste, and peasantry, Mihr also carries the three colors of white, red, and green, representing each function respectively.2194 The nourishing function of Mihr seems to have been so important, however, that in all the narratives and rebellions that we shall examine, it was the color green that held paramountcy. Thus, in this narrative of P¯ uz, the color green assumes a ır¯ primary function. While P¯ uz exempliﬁed mihr duruj¯, to be false to Mithra, ır¯ ı therefore, the K¯rins donned with the green of Mihr, functioned as their yazata, a Mihr, toward kingship: they restored and safeguarded the king’s crown. P¯r¯z’s injustice ıu It is apt to analyze this episode in more detail. As noted earlier, Mihr cosmogony posits a direct connection between the justice of the king and the replenishment of his kingdom. In the Circle of Justice ideology, unjust kings brought natural calamities upon their subjects.2195 In Tha ¯lib¯ narrative this a ı’s
2193 See among others, Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 128–140; Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 1, pp. 407–410; Ferdows¯ ı ır ı 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 9–17. 2194 Widengren, Geo, ‘B¯bak¯ a ıyah and the Mithraic Mysteries’, in Ugo Bianchi (ed.), Mysteria Mithrae, pp. 675–695, Leiden, 1979 (Widengren 1979). 2195 See §5.2.6.

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pp. 111–112, de Goeje, 873. . p. 112, de Goeje, 874. Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 574–577, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 370–371. a ı a ı . 2198 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, p. 578, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, p. 371; Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, pp. 218–219. See also Bosworth’s a ı a ı ı notes in Tabar¯ 1999, p. 113, n. 290, de Goeje, 874. ı .
2197 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

2196 Tabar¯ 1999, ı

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connection is explicit. P¯ uz’s reign had started unjustly because he had waged ır¯ an unjust war against his brother Hormozd III (457–459). The brothers’ war, in which Hormozd III and three of his family members were killed, wreaked havoc in the land and led to tremendous bloodletting. When P¯ uz ascended ır¯ the throne, the rain stopped. As a result, rivers dried up and a drought devastated the land. Tabar¯ replicates this narrative: P¯ uz “was a man of limited ı ır¯ . capability, generally unsuccessful in his undertakings, who brought down evil and misfortune on his subjects, and the greater part of his sayings and the actions he undertook brought down injury and calamity upon both himself and the people of his realm.” For seven years continuously during his reign the land was stricken by famine. “Streams, qan¯ts, and springs dried up, trees and reed beds became a desiccated . . . Dearth, hunger, hardship, and various calamities became general for the people of his realm.”2196 Presumably realizing his error, P¯ uz began to act with justice. He susır¯ pended land and capitation taxation, abolished corvées, forbade hoarding of grain and other foodstuffs, and ordered the rich to share their wealth with the poor. “In this way [P¯ uz] ordered the affairs of his subjects during that period ır¯ of dearth and hunger so that no one perished of starvation except for one man [!] . . . [So P¯ uz] implored his Lord to bestow his mercy on him and his subır¯ jects and to send down His rain . . . So God aided him by causing it to rain . . . P¯ uz’s land once more had a profusion of water . . . and the trees were ır¯ restored to a ﬂourishing state.”2197 P¯ uz then commenced his construction acır¯ tivities. Of the three cities that he built, one was in the vicinity of Rayy, called R¯m P¯ uz, another between Gurg¯n and B¯b-i Sul, called Rowshan P¯ uz, and a ır¯ a a .¯ ır¯ the third in Azarb¯yj¯n, called Shahr¯m P¯ uz.2198 It is worth noting that two a a a ır¯ of these three cities are in the hereditary territory of the K¯rin, the Mihr¯n, a a and the Ispahbudh¯n families, the Pahlav regions infused with currents of Mihr a worship. The connection between the justice of the king and the prosperity of the land is of course not peculiar to Iranian notions of kingship. When, however, this connection is accompanied by notions of oath-breaking, as is the case in almost all of the narratives of P¯ uz, it clearly assumes Mithraic characteristics. ır¯ Once P¯ uz’s land was prosperous again, however, he stumbled, once more, by ır¯ attacking the king of the Hephthalites, Akhshunw¯r. When the war proved ina conclusive, P¯ uz sued for peace. In exchange, Akhshunw¯r made P¯ uz swear ır¯ a ır¯ “with an oath and agreement sworn before God, that he would never in the future mount raids against him.” P¯ uz agreed. Once back in Iran, however, he decided ır¯ to renew hostilities. He broke his oath against the wishes of “his viziers and close advisors, who argued that commencing war would involve breaking the agreement.” Having marched out, P¯ uz was confronted with Akhshunw¯r, who ır¯ a

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§5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

“publicly adduced before Fayr¯z [i.e., P¯ uz] the document with the agreement u ır¯ he had written . . . and warned him about his oath and his undertaking.” P¯ uz’s ır¯ army and his followers “were, however, in a weakened and defeatist state because of the agreement that had existed between them and the Hephthalites.” Akhshunw¯r a then proclaimed: “O God, act according to what is in this document.”2199 The theme of P¯ uz’s oath-breaking is reiterated in almost all our narratives, includır¯ ing that of Łazar P‘arpec‘i. The Hephthalite king “sent word to Peroz: ‘You have a sworn covenant with me, written and sealed, [not to attack me] if I do not wage war against you . . . So remember the covenant . . . Return in peace and perish not . . . ’ When the Aryans heard the arguments of the Hephthalites, they said to Peroz: ‘He is right, and we are waging an unjust war’.” Łazar P‘arpec‘i also stresses the episode’s association with Tabarist¯n. When P¯ uz and all his a ır¯ . sons and people perished as a result of his unjust war, a “few men escaped from the slaughter; reaching Vrkan [i.e., Gurg¯n, the abode of the K¯rins], they told a a everyone of these grievous events, which caused all the nobles and the rest of the populace in Vrkan to ﬂee to Asorestan.”2200 As a result of P¯ uz’s oathır¯ breaking, “the Persian army suffered a defeat the like of which they had never before experienced.”2201 The theme of oath-taking and oath-breaking also looms large in the Sh¯hn¯ma’s rendition of P¯ uz’s reign.2202 According to Ferdows¯ when a a ır¯ ı, Hormozd III (457–459) ascended the throne, P¯ uz grew jealous and with a ır¯ number of the elite (mah¯n) approached the Hephthalites. The king of the Hepa hthalites, Chagh¯n¯ gave him in contract an army (bih peym¯n sip¯ram sip¯h¯ a ı, a a a ı tow r¯), and reminded him that Yazdgird II (438–457) had already given him the a control over the regions of Tirmidh and Siyahgird.2203 With the aid of the Hephthalites, P¯ uz then gained the throne.2204 Ferdows¯ too, recounts the drought ır¯ ı, that engulfed Iran, the measures taken by P¯ uz to deal with the calamity, the ır¯ restoration of the land, and his building activity, followed by his attack on the
2199 Bosworth notes: “That is, bring upon F¯ uz the stipulated curse for his breaking the agreement ır¯ he had made with Akhshunw¯r.” Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 113–116, and n. 294, de Goeje, 874–877. a ı . 2200 Parpeci 1991, p. 215. 2201 The narrative of P¯ uz’s war against the Hephthalites, his oath to the enemy, the breaking of ır¯ this oath, and its consequences are even contained in Procopius, pointing to an original Persian source as the provenance of this and other parts of Procopius’ work dealing with Iran. Procopius 1914, I. iii.1–v.1. P¯ uz’s oath-breaking is also detailed in Joshua the Stylite 2000, pp. 10–11. The ır¯ successive wars of P¯ uz against the Huns in the east and Transoxiana hit his domains very hard. ır¯ He was forced to underwrite these wars by, among other means, demanding a tribute from the Byzantines. According to Joshua the Stylite, in the midst of his wars against the Hephthalites, the king also imposed a poll-tax upon his entire domain. When Bil¯sh (484–488) came to power, he a “found the Persian treasury empty and the land ravaged by the Huns.” Joshua the Stylite 2000, p. 16. 2202 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 8–9: ı
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2203 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı 2204 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. VIII, p. 8, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2265. ı vol. VIII, p. 8, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2266. ı

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Hephthalites.2205 While at war, his youngest son, Bil¯sh, occupied the throne, a but affairs were in the hands of his K¯rinid minister Sukhr¯.2206 When the army a a reached Central Asia, to the agreed upon Oxus border according, this time, to a pact of Bahr¯m V G¯r (420–438) with Khoshnav¯z, P¯ uz decided not to abide a u a ır¯ by the agreement.2207 The issue of contract breaking (peym¯n shikan¯) looms large in Ferdows¯ a ı ı’s subsequent rendition of events. When the son of the Kh¯q¯n heard that P¯ uz a a ır¯ had crossed the Oxus with his army, he wrote a letter to the Sasanian king and threatened P¯ uz that if he reneged on his kingly oath, he would not be considır¯ ered of royal lineage, and further that if P¯ uz broke the oath, he, too, would be ır¯ forced to break his contract and resort to war. The terminology used in almost the entire narrative is peym¯n shikan¯ or at times ahd shikan¯.2208 Signiﬁcantly, a ı ı it is to the K¯rinid Sukhr¯’s messenger that the Kh¯q¯n communicated his accua a a a sation of P¯ uz’s breach of contract.2209 It is noteworthy that both Nöldeke and ır¯ Bosworth recognized the centrality of oath and oath-breaking in the narrative of P¯ uz’s wars in the east, but attributed it to P¯ uz’s defeats in these wars.2210 ır¯ ır¯ The fact that contracts are made under the protection of Mihr, by now readily associated with the Sun, is explicitly stated by Ferdows¯ The Kh¯ı: a q¯n asked his messenger to tell P¯ uz that he would bring the contract of his a ır¯ ancestor atop a lance, as if it were the sun.2211 Signiﬁcantly, on account of
vol. VIII, pp. 9–17, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2269. ı vol. VIII, pp. 17–29. 2207 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 578–579, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 372–373; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 12, Fera ı a ı ı dows¯ 1935, p. 2270: ı
2206 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı
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2205 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

2208 Ferdows¯ 1935, ı

pp. 2270–2271, Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, pp. 12–13: ı
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vol. VIII, p. 21, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2280. ı maintains, for example, that the “narrative emphasizes F¯ uz’s responsibility, as the ır¯ breaker of his oath, for the ensuing catastrophe”; but as Nöldeke skeptically observes, “if F¯ uz ır¯ had been victorious, all mention of his oath-breaking would have been tossed aside!” Tabar¯ 1999, ı . p. 115, n. 292. 2211 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 14: ı
2210 Bosworth
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2209 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

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§5.4: M IHR WORSHIP IN THE NORTH AND EAST C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION

P¯ uz’s contract-breaking, the Kh¯q¯n now accused him of irreligiosity.2212 The ır¯ a a Kh¯q¯n beseeched God, who is here rendered as the Righteous Judge (d¯var-i a a a d¯dp¯k), in supplication against the unrighteous P¯ uz (P¯r¯z-i b¯d¯dgar), who a a ır¯ ıu ı a sought grandeur through the use of the sword.2213 And thus the Kh¯q¯n set out a a against P¯ uz. Naturally, P¯ uz suffered a humiliating defeat, losing his life as ır¯ ır¯ well as that of the major grandees of the empire in the process. In Procopius’ account, when the escape routes of the king were closed, the magi advised the king that he should make sure to meet the Hephthalite leader at “dawn, and then, turning toward the rising sun, make his obeisance. In this way, they explained, he would be able to escape the future ignominy of his deed.”2214 As Trombely and Watt observe, “in reality, P¯ uz was making obeisance to the risır¯ ing sun (that is, the visible shape of the god Mithra).”2215 The paradigm for this narrative, without doubt, is “the popular variant of the Iranian myth of creation [where] . . . the sun, i.e., Mihr, . . . is the arbiter between the two adversaries,”2216 here co-opted by the Sasanian king P¯ uz. ır¯ Another common element in all of the narratives concerning P¯ uz’s reign ır¯ is the central role played by the K¯rinid Sukhr¯, avenging the king’s defeat a a precipitated by his oath-breaking.2217 There is little doubt, therefore, that the narrative of P¯ uz’s humiliating defeat and all the Mithraic motifs contained in ır¯ it have to be considered in conjunction with the rise of the K¯rins to power a and the extremely positive representation of this Parthian dynastic family in most of our narratives. The heroic accounts of the K¯rins’ role in leashing a and highlighting the king’s folly and restoring his kingship were inserted in P¯ uz’s narratives by the Parthian K¯rinid dynastic family. In all probability, ır¯ a likewise, the theme of making and breaking contracts looms large in P¯ uz’s ır¯ narrative because the Parthian K¯rins were, like the Mihr¯ns, Mihr devotees, a a who inserted their beliefs into these sections of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition. a a In fact, in all other substantive narratives in which the K¯rins appear, aspects a of Mihr worship appear alongside them. This comes across very clearly in the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n. aı a . As the K¯rins’ fortunes continued to rise throughout the rule of Bil¯sh a a and the ﬁrst part of Qub¯d’s reign,2218 it is, in all probability, primarily on a account of this family’s power over his kingdom that Qub¯d started his Maza dakite phase and commenced the reforms that are said to have continued during his son Khusrow I’s reign.2219 According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, Qub¯d substanıy¯ a tially reduced the power of the K¯rins over his realm by banishing them to a

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vol. VIII, pp. 14, 21, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2272. ı p. 2273, rendered as d¯d o p¯k in Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 15. a a ı 2214 Procopius 1914, I. iii. 1–22. 2215 Joshua the Stylite 2000, pp. 11–12, n. 44. 2216 Shaked 1980, p. 18. 2217 Tabar¯ 1999, p. 117, de Goeje, 877. ı . 2218 See §2.4. 2219 See §2.4.5.
2213 Ferdows¯ 1935, ı

2212 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

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Tabarist¯n and Z¯bulist¯n. Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s explanatory notes on the K¯rin a a a ıy¯ a . end here, and the narrative of the green-clad army coming to the aid of Khusrow I commences.2220 When Qub¯d killed Sukhr¯, Ibn Isfand¯ ar explains, his a a ıy¯ sons ﬂed from Tabarist¯n to Badakhsh¯n. Hearing of Qub¯d’s death and Khusa a a . row I’s regret at his father’s treatment of them, the K¯rins then came with their a green-clad army to Khusrow I’s aid against the Kh¯q¯n.2221 In sum, the K¯a a a rins wore the color green and assumed their chief deity’s role in bestowing and restoring kingship, because they were replicating in P¯ uz’s narrative the funcır¯ tion of their chief God, Mihr. Kay¯nid pseudo-genealogy of the Sasanians. a Under P¯ uz, the Sasanians also challenged the Parthians’ territorial and reliır¯ gious legitimacy by concocting their own pseudo-genealogy to rival the pseudogenealogy of the Arsacids.2222 The Sasanians now traced their descent, through the Achaemenids, to the Kay¯nids, and above all to Kai V¯ asp¯. As the father a ısht¯ a of the last Achaemenid ruler, Darius III (380–330 BCE), was called V¯ asp¯, ısht¯ a they identiﬁed him with his namesake, the patron of Zoroaster.2223 With one stroke, therefore, under P¯ uz the Sasanians seem to have effected two feats. ır¯ On the one hand this was political propaganda par excellence, “since a claim to Kayanian blood gave these kings of the south-west an ancient title to rule also over the north-east.”2224 Insofar as the Sasanians tied their genealogy to the patron of the Mazdean faith, V¯ asp¯, moreover, it gave them religious ısht¯ a legitimacy. There is little doubt, therefore, that the Sasanian concoction of this genealogy was “proclaimed and exploited from the time of Peroz, the son of Yazdgird II (459–484).”2225 Signiﬁcantly, it was P¯ uz, as well, who ﬁrst adopted the title ır¯ of Kai, reviving the ancient title of K¯vi, on some of his coins. Naming one a of his sons Kav¯d or Qub¯d, after the ﬁrst Kay¯nid king, Kai Kav¯d, and ana a a a other J¯m¯sp, after V¯ asp¯’s wise counselor, J¯m¯sp, was another move in a a ısht¯ a a a this direction.2226 Thereafter the use of Kay¯nid titles among the Sasanians bea came common. We recall that around this same time, the Sasanians began to
page 380. Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 151. ıy¯ 2222 Boyce 1979, p. 127. 2223 In the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition, the Achaemenids, who are represented by only two monarchs a a and come after the P¯ ad¯ dynasty, are “treated as part virtually of the Kayanian dynasty.” The ıshd¯ ı Kayanids thus meet their end appropriately with Alexander’s conquest. Iran then reverts to the period of petty local rulers (mol¯k al-taw¯ if), whose history, that of the Parthians, is basically u a deleted from the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition. The last Arsacid ruler, Ardav¯n, then appoints the a a a ancestor of the Sasanians, one B¯bak, as the governor of Istakhr. B¯bak, enlightened by dreams, a a .. gives his daughter to S¯s¯n, the last of many bearing this name. The ancestor of this S¯s¯n, according aa aa to the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition, was D¯r¯ (Darius III), the last Achaemenid king. Boyce 1979, a a aa pp. 126–127. Yarshater 1983b, pp. 377, 472. 2224 Boyce 1979, p. 127. 2225 Boyce 1979, p. 127. 2226 Boyce 1979, pp. 127–128.
2221 Ibn 2220 See

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¯ ¯ promote the Adhar Gushnasp and Adhar Farnbagh ﬁres in rivalry against the 2227 Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre. ın What led P¯ uz to engage in this politico-religious struggle for legitimacy ır¯ with the Parthians? Boyce claims that P¯ uz’s exploitation of this genealogical ır¯ tradition and its attendant religious connotations was probably prompted by the Hephthalite threat in the northeastern parts of his realm, “thus making the Sasanians keenly aware of their need to foster loyalty among their own subjects.”2228 But the subjects of the Sasanians in the northeast were Parthians, in whose historical tradition P¯ uz is portrayed in a decidedly negative light.2229 It might ır¯ be proposed, therefore, that the Sasanians’ propagandistic use of the eastern ¯ ¯ Kay¯nid right to power and their promotion of the Adhar Farnbagh and Adhar a Gushnasp ﬁres against the Pahlav Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre reﬂected the suffocating hold ın that the Parthian dynastic powers were exerting on Sasanian domains at this juncture of Sasanian history. In the context of this struggle and in an attempt to co-opt the Parthian dynastic families’ claim to legitimacy in their ancestral domains, P¯ uz constructed the cities R¯m P¯ uz near Rayy, and Rowshan P¯ ır¯ a ır¯ ır¯z between Gurg¯n and B¯b-i Sul in these very Pahlav territories. u a a .¯ 5.4.4 Mihr worship in Armenia

In the political history chapter we discussed the intimate sociopolitical connections of Iran to Armenia during the Arsacid and Sasanian periods.2230 The Arsacid descent of the Armenian kings formed a constant and lively reminder for the Sasanians of the sociopolitical presence of the Parthians throughout their rule. In this context, we highlighted the continued intimate association of the Parthian dynastic families of the Sasanian period with Armenia and brieﬂy traced some of the better-known aspects of this relationship, especially that of the Mihr¯ns. What we must underline in this section, however, and what is of a even further crucial importance in the history of Irano–Armenian relations, is that throughout Armenian history, and especially prior to the conversion of the Armenians to Christianity—a process that like all the processes of conversion was drawn-out and complex2231 —“Iran . . . was to be the dominant inﬂuence in
page 362. 1979, p. 127. Emphasis mine. 2229 Recall the K¯rinid version discussed on page 380ff. a 2230 See page 43. For a synopsis of Armenia’s political history, see footnotes 82 and 192. 2231 As late as the end of the ﬁfth century, we can still see traces of pagan customs in the works of Christian authors. In his accounts of the year 497/8 CE, for example, Joshua the Stylite informs us that during the wicked pagan festival celebrated by the population, pagan myths were chanted, pagan costumes were worn and pagan incense offerings were made. Joshua the Stylite 2000, pp. 32 and 28 respectively. As late as the fourth century, furthermore, shrines to Mihr still existed in Armenia. Clauss, Manfred, The Roman Cult of Mithras: The God and his Mysteries, Edinburgh University Press, 2000, translated by R. Gordon (Clauss 2000), p. 4. A primary impetus for the foundation of Armenian historiography, as is readily admitted by scholars of Armenian history, was the Christian church. The general Christian character of Armenian literature is acknowledged. In fact it is known that the “prime concern of the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, Mashtots‘, was the translation of texts useful for the church.” Khorenats i 1978, pp. 32, and 20 respectively. Nevertheless it is
2228 Boyce 2227 See

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Armenian spiritual matters.”2232 The Armenians probably became Zoroastrian during the Achaemenid period. For almost a millennium prior to the ofﬁcial Armenian adoption of Christianity in the fourth century CE, therefore, the Armenian religious landscape was informed by Mazdean forms of worship, although strong regional traditions also affected it. It would be logical to presume, therefore, that this spiritual tradition would substantially inﬂuence later Armenian religious practice. In fact, so potent a mark Iranian religion had left on the Armenian landscape that, as James Russell observes, “numerous survivals of Armenian Zoroastrianism remain to this day.”2233 As in post-Avestan and Sasanian Iran, so also in pre-Christian Armenia, no centralized orthodox Zoroastrian church existed. Aramazd (Ohrmozd, Ah¯r¯ ua Mazd¯), sometimes called the manly god, was the principal deity, and the father a of all gods. Anahit was his progeny, Mihr his son, and Nan¯—a female god of e Uruk origin—his daughter.2234 Mimicking the dynastic structure of the Armenian polity, it seems “that the royal family presided over the cult of the supreme God, while local dynasts, the naxarars, attended to lesser yazatas.” Anahit, the Lady, who bears another epithet whose meaning remains unclear (the golden mother), had her own separate temple.2235 Tir, the scribe of Aramazd, and the name of the fourth month in the Armenian calendar,2236 and Sandaramet2237 were other noteworthy Zoroastrian yazatas replicated in Armenia. Of all the Iranian religious currents prevalent in pre-Christian Armenia, however, Mihr worship was particularly strong.2238 In fact, so prevalent was Mihr worship in Armenia, we recall, that it has been claimed that this religious
also acknowledged that the “conversion of king Trdat (Tiridates) to Christianity in the early fourth century and the work of Saint Gregory did not bring about an immediate and total rejection of preChristian Armenian traditions. Thus, early Armenian historiography presents us with a fascinating picture of the interplay of cultures pagan and Christian, Iranian and Hellenistic. But the Armenian historians themselves, being Christian, impose upon that complicated amalgam interpretations based upon their own beliefs and ideals, using imagery drawn from the Judeo–Christian world.” Elish¯ 1982, p. 1. e ˙ Emphasis mine. As a result, Garsoian maintains, “any Iranian element lurking beneath the surface of early Christian Armenian civilization can all too easily be overlooked, swamped by Armenian hostility and the highly articulate and well-documented classical tradition which was an indubitable component of the contemporary scene.” Garsoian 1985c in Garsoian 1985b, p. 29. 2232 Unless otherwise noted, the following discussion follows Russell 1991, p. 439. 2233 Russell 1991, p. 438. 2234 The “name [Aramazd] is a loan from Parthian, cf. Greek Aramasd¯s.” The temple of Aramazd e “held an image, probably resembling the image of the manly Zeus, destroyed by St. Acindynus.” As Russell explains, the Armenians made statues of their gods. These were mostly imported from the west and placed in shrines. The function of Aramazd as a thunder god was probably inﬂuenced by a non-Zoroastrian weather god. Russell 1991, p. 439. 2235 As Russell explains, the cult of Anahit might have absorbed symbols of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. Russell 1991, p. 440. 2236 Russell 1991, p. 441. 2237 Derived from a southwest Iranian word, Spandaramet, the earth personiﬁed. Russell 1991, p. 442. 2238 The following discussion is likewise indebted to James Russell’s interesting article Russell 1990b, p. 183.

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tradition inﬂuenced the development of Roman Mithraism. The very name for a pre-Christian Armenian temple, mehean, “from a Middle Iranian derivative of Old Iranian ∗ m¯’thry¯na or mithrad¯na,”2239 testiﬁes to the spread and ima a a portance of the cult of Mithra in Armenia. As we have seen, and as Russell also notes, during the Islamic period any Zoroastrian temple was called a d¯ra i Mihr and Armenia was no exception to this general practice. Likewise, any pagan priest was called a Mithraist.2240 The Armenian king Tiridates I (56–59 and 62–72 CE) invoked Mihr, the god of contracts, in his treaty with the Roman emperor Nero (54–68 CE),2241 and in an inscription, he referred to himself as the Sun, the very symbol of Mithra.2242 The high frequency of theophoric names composed with mihr, mrh, or meh among the Armenian Arsacid kings and dynasts in the classical period and late antiquity,2243 further underlines the signiﬁcance of Mithra in the Armenian spiritual landscape.2244 To this day, Mihr remains the seventh month, as well as the eighth day of any month in the Armenian calendar. And in Armenian Christianity, the twenty-ﬁrst day of Mehekan, Greater Mihrig¯n in the Zoroastrian calendar, is devoted—appropriate to Mihr’s a warrior function—to St. George the Soldier.2245 As late as the nineteenth century, when water seeped from a certain rock, Armenians believed it to be the “urine of Mithra’s steed.”2246 Mithraic elements in hunting and banquet scenes As Russell notes, the many terracotta ﬁgurines that have been found in Parthia and Armenia “of an archer in an Iranian dress on horseback are very likely votive images of Mithra, who is shown hunting on horseback on many Mithraic monuments.”2247 As Garsoian has brilliantly shown, the motifs of the hunting scene, as well as the banquet, so widespread in Parthian Armenian and Sasanian art, have Mithraic provenance. In the Armenian context, as in the Iranian setting, the man on the horse has heroic and supernatural overtones.2248 Like
2239 Russell 1991, p. 440. A cave-like temple of Mithra in a village in Armenia has been identiﬁed. The temple had already been mentioned by Agat‘angelos as a temple of Mithra, mrhakan mehean, at Bagayarich (town of god), now Pekeriç. A second cave continues to be associated with Mihr in living Armenian epic. The epic describes a lion Mher (Mithra) and a little Mher, the latter of whom is “guided by a raven . . . to a cave at Van, where he waits on horseback, the wheel of destiny (charkh-e falak) in his hand, for the end of days when justice will return to earth.” Russell 1990b, p. 184. 2240 Russell 1990b, p. 183. 2241 Schippmann 1980, p. 56. 2242 Russell 1991, p. 440. 2243 As Garsoian observes, the “name Mithra/Mihr is a common component of the onomasticon of Armenia and its neighbors: Mihrdat/Mithradates, Mihran, Mihr-šapuh, Mer Šapuh,” etc. Garsoian 1985c, p. 56, n. 90. 2244 Russell 1990b, pp. 185, 190, 191, 192. 2245 Russell 1991, p. 440. 2246 Russell 1991, p. 440. 2247 Russell 1990b, p. 184. 2248 The persistent survival of the ideal of the hunter among Iranians is exempliﬁed by a poem which opens with the stanza “La Roi declara . . . Qu’ils celèbrent les louangées du Chasseur, maître

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its Iranian analogues, “the horse of the evildoers stumbles at the critical moment” in Armenian epic literature.2249 We recall the horse that kicked Yazdgird I the Sinner to death in Parthava. The imagery of the hunt in Armenian literature and art, therefore, replicates that of the Parthians and the Sasanians, all incorporating potent Mithraic symbolism. Thus “the twin frescoes from the Mithraeum at [Arsacid] Dura Europos2250 [which depict] the galloping of the god Mithra drawing his bow at a ﬂeeing herd of bucks, onagers, wild boars, and lions, depict in an identical preﬁguration . . . the gesture of the Sasanian royal representation, and thereby identifying their prototype.” Just as on a Parthian seal from Nis¯ we ﬁnd a rider “crowned with a diadem spearing a wild beast a and surmounted by a crescent moon,” so on a Sasanian hunter intaglio we ﬁnd the rider accompanied by the sun and the moon.2251 The banquet (bazm), a central social function in both the Iranian and Armenian context, and well-represented in Armenian and Iranian literature, also betrays a Mithraic provenance. The banquet, as Garsoian observes, “became one of the settings of the apotheosis at which the gates of eternity opened to reveal the banquet of immortality. The banquet scene . . . concludes the series of Mithra’s terrestrial exploits preceding his ascension on the chariot of the sun.” It is crucial to note that, as Garsoian observes, “in the heavenly vision of . . . [the infamous] Sasanian high-priest Kart¯r [Kird¯ described in his inscription e ır] at Sar Mashhad [KSM] the central image2252 is of a golden throne dominating a banquet.”2253 In the early third century the cult of the yazata Vahagn—probably from Parthian V¯rhragn, Persian Bahr¯m—to whom, appropriately, the epithet brave a a
du pact.” Mokri, M., Le Chasseur de Dieu et le mythe du Roi-Aigle, Wiesbaden, 1967 (Mokri 1967). Cited in Garsoian 1985c, pp. 47–48, n. 74. 2249 Garsoian 1985c, pp. 47–48. 2250 Initially excavated in 1920–22 under the direction of Franz Cumont, Dura Europos, “on the right bank of the Euphrates between Antioch and Seleucia on the Tigris, [was] founded in 303 BCE by Nicanor, a general of Seleucus I . . . [It was] brought into the Iranian cultural sphere after the Parthian conquest in about 113 BCE. This domination lasted three centuries.” Originally only a fortress it was “constituted as a city only in the late Hellenistic period and had been only sparsely populated throughout the Greek period. It was under the Parthians, however, that the city assumed its essential aspect.” Leriche, Pierre and Mackenzie, D.N., ‘Duraeuropos’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007 (Leriche and Mackenzie 2007). 2251 Garsoian 1985c, p. 54. 2252 “Nous voyons un cavalier, un prince, éclatant, et il est assis sur un cheval précieux, et il a une bannière (?) [dans la main?] . . . [Et là] un homme [apparait?] . . . et placé sur un trône en or.” Gignoux 1991c, pp. 95–96. 2253 Garsoian 1985c, p. 62, quoting Cumont, Franz, ‘The Dura Mithraeum’, in John R. Hinnells (ed.), Mithraic Studies: Proceedings of the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies, pp. 151–214, Manchester University Press, 1975, edited and translated by E.D. Francis (Cumont 1975), p. 117. According to Garsoian, “Gignoux notes the eschatological interest of this passage and presumes that this banquet was prepared for the righteous . . . He takes the sitter in the golden throne to be Rašn [Rashnu] or Vahman . . . [the aides to Mithra.]” Garsoian, Nina G., ‘L’inscription de Kart¯ı r S¯r Mašhad’, in Armenia between Byzantium and the Sasanians, London, 1985d (Garsoian 1985d), a pp. 402, 404, 409, n. 11, 37, 39, 47; see also Garsoian 1985c, p. 62, and n. 103. Subsequently Gignoux changed his perspective as to whether the banquet was prepared for the righteous. Gignoux 1991c.

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is given and whose name is used for the 27th day of the Armenian month, became particularly strong in Armenia. In the process Vahagn became second only to Aramazd, and, like Mithra, identiﬁed with the Sun.2254 In his narrative on the Christianization of Armenia, Agat‘angelos “devotes far more detail to the destruction of Vahagn’s temple at Aštišat in Tar¯n than to any o of the other pagan shrines,” the compiler stressing “that St. Gregory was especially desirous of destroying this temple because it was outstanding for its wealth, and because ignorant men still made profane sacriﬁces at these surviving altars.” The ﬁrst Armenian church was erected on the site of the former temple.2255 As has recently been suggested with “considerable persuasiveness by James Russell . . . [however] at the beginning of the Sasanian period Vahagn was taking the place of the sun god,” Mithra. Thenceforth Vahagn assumes Mithra’s place in the “dominant Zoroastrian ofﬁcial trinity of Armenia: [the trinity becoming that of] Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, An¯hit, Vahagn.”2256 We should not ua a a lose sight, moreover, of the close correspondence of Mithra and Vahagn. For as Gershevitch and others have shown, in the Mazdean tradition Verethragn¯ a (Avestan V@r@TraGna)/Bahr¯m/Vahagn “is the constant companion of [Mithra], a thus making the confusion understandable” in the Armenian context.2257 The white horse in particular is the symbol of Bahr¯m since the “third incarnation a of the god is speciﬁed to be as a white horse.”2258 Divine Glory (farr), a necessary prerequisite of kingship, contingent on the king’s fulﬁllment of his contract and the maintenance of the Circle of Justice underwritten by Mihr and represented by a host of Mithraic symbols,2259 was as integral a part of the discourse of political legitimacy in Armenia as in Iran.2260
1991, p. 441. 1985a, in Garsoian 1985b, pp. 158, 180, n. 74. 2256 Garsoian 1985a, pp. 158 and 180, n. 74 citing Russell, James R., ‘Zoroastrian Problems in Armenia: Mihr and Vahagan’, in T. Samuelian (ed.), Classical Armenian Culture, vol. 4 of University of Pennsylvania Armenian Texts and Studies, pp. 1–7, Dudley, 1982 (Russell 1982). 2257 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 107; Mihr Yasht 1883, §§70–71. See also Bahman Yasht 1880, Bahman Yasht, vol. 5 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1880, translated by E.W. West (Bahman Yasht 1880), pp. 243–244, cited in Garsoian 1985c, p. 52, n. 85. In the Mihr Yasht we ﬁnd: “he [Mithra] who is strong and victorious [Verethragn¯], [Mihr Yasht 1883, §16] . . . the supernata ural god who ﬂies over climes bestowing good fortune [farr] . . . bestowing power; victoriousness . . . he increases, [Mihr Yasht 1883, §§67, 127] . . . ﬂying behind [him, Mithra] comes the strong likeness of Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯’s creature, in the shape of a wild aggressive male boar [Verethragn¯] . . . in ua a a front of him [Mithra] ﬂies the blazing Fire which (is) the strong Kavyan Fortune [Mihr Yasht 1883, §141].” Garsoian 1985c, pp. 55–56, n. 90. Recall that boar (gor¯z, bor¯z, or var¯z) is also the sufﬁx a a a of the name of our towering Mihr¯nid dynast, Shahrvar¯z; see page 146. a a 2258 Bahman Yasht 1880, §9, cited in Garsoian 1985c, p. 53, n. 87. See also page 411 below. 2259 See our discussion on page 354. 2260 Among the central themes of Elish¯’s history, Thomson notes the theme of “the covenant e ˙ (ukht) and the secession (erkparakut iwn) of those who abandoned the covenant. For Elish¯, the e covenant is a covenant of the church; he [i.e., Elish¯] emphasizes not merely that the pact ˙to which e ˙ Armenians swore allegiance was one of loyalty to God and country, but that in that pact the church played the leading role.” Observing that the concept “of holy covenant as the body of the faithful does not occur in the New Testament,” Thomson argues that it nevertheless has a “deﬁnite precursor in the Judaism of the second century BCE,” for which he gives evidence from 1 Macc. 1:15–16,
2255 Garsoian 2254 Russell

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As Garsoian observes, “the supernatural aura of both rulers [Armenian and Sasanian] was . . . identical. The central Iranian concept of the royal glory, the kavyan xwarrah [Armenian P‘ark‘], which identiﬁes, accompanies, and protects the legitimate ruler, but escapes from the usurper, and abandons an evil king, is present in Armenian sources even in a Christian context.”2261 In short, the afﬁnities of the pre-Christian Armenian religious tradition with the Iranian spiritual tradition were so strong, direct, and thorough, having outlived the gradual social Christianization of Armenia, that it has been claimed that the “Armenian religious vocabulary is almost entirely Iranian and covers most Zoroastrian ideas, religious institutions and instruments.”2262 Obviously, then, the Sasanian connection with Armenia had not only a political dimension, but also a strong cultural and religious one. Through a good part of their history, therefore, the Sasanians were forced to deal not only with an Armenia which was Arsacid and hence a constant reminder of the continued forceful presence of Parthians in their own sociopolitical structure, but also with an Armenia in which currents of Mihr worship were strong. The Mihr¯ns of the Sasanian domains who had established sociopolitical ties with a pre-Christian and Christian Armenia and Albania (Arr¯n), along with other a Iranian Parthian houses, such as the S¯ren, whose presence in the pages of Aru menian history is replete,2263 were dealing with Parthian naxarars among whom Mihr or Bahr¯m worship predominated. It was to the Parthian dynast Mihr¯n, a a for example, that Vahan Mamikonean argued his case for his loyal behavior toward the Sasanian king P¯ uz,2264 and it was this same Mihr¯n who urged the ır¯ a Armenian rebels to convert, or possibly reconvert, and “take refuge in ﬁre and worship the sun.”2265 The Armenian rebels ﬁnally resorted to him for rendering

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and Daniel 11:18–30. The similarity of the concepts of ukht and erkparakut iwn with the Mithraic concepts of forming a contract, mihr¯n kardan, literally to form a Mithra, and mihr dur¯j¯, to be a uı false to Mithra, is nevertheless striking. Elish¯ 1982, pp. 9–11. e ˙ 2261 Garsoian 1985c, p. 42 and n. 53. “The most common representation of the xwarrah . . . is that of a ram adorned with ﬂying ribbons.” Ibid., p. 44, n. 58, citing Bivar, A.D.H., Catalogue of the Western Asiatic Seals in the British Museum, Stamp Seals II, the Sasanian Dynasty, London, 1969 (Bivar 1969), pl. 16. Also see now the excellent work Soudavar 1980, pp. 13–39, where the Mithraic provenance of the ram adorned with ﬂying ribbons, and the ﬂying ribbons (dast¯r) themselves, is a convincingly argued. Even the Armenian Holy Cross is depicted “with a pair of stylized wings underneath . . . and [is] refer[ed] to as P‘ark‘ Kh¯ch‘ (Glorious Cross).” Soudavar, citing personal a correspondence with Russell, ibid., p. 21 and p. 151, ﬁgure 24. Soudavar’s work is accompanied by fascinating plates which substantiate most of our arguments. 2262 Russell 1991, p. 443. For a recapitulation of the Iranian dimensions of Armenian sociopolitical and cultural life, see also Garsoian, Nina G., Des Parthes au Caliphate: quatre lessons sur la formation de l’identité Arménienne, vol. 10 of Travaux et mémoires du centre de récherche d’histoire et civilization de Byzance, Paris, 1997 (Garsoian 1997), especially ‘Les elements Iraniens dans l’Armenie paleochretienne,’ pp. 9–37. 2263 As mentioned, we have merely been able to touch upon the intimate relations between Armenia and Iran in this study; see our discussion on page 43. 2264 Parpeci 1991, pp. 193–196. See page 73. 2265 Parpeci 1991, pp. 199 and 196.

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mediation (mij ˇnord).2266 The chronicler Łazar P‘arpec‘i must have been thoroughly familiar with the Mithraic beliefs of the Parthian Mihr¯ns but not neca essarily with the beliefs of the Sasanian P¯ uz. When the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i ır¯ a a Ch¯b¯ solicited the aid of the Armenian dynasts,2267 therefore, a common reu ın cent religious culture probably further strengthened his claim of afﬁnity with them, a dimension of the rebellion that could very well have been deleted from the pages of heavily Christianized Armenian historiography. The tension and antagonism existing between the Sasanians and the Parthians in religious matters2268 must have also exacerbated the religious dimension of the Sasanian relationship with pre-Christian Armenia. Mithraism seems to have been so entrenched in Armenia and neighboring Azarb¯yj¯n that it proba a ably even undergirded the cataclysmic rebellion of B¯bak Khurramd¯ against a ın the Abb¯sids in the early ninth century in Azarb¯yj¯n.2269 a a a

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1991, p. 193 and n. 1. page 128. 2268 We shall provide further evidence of this when discussing Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a u ın’s rebellion in §6.1 below. 2269 B¯bak Khurramd¯ a ın’s rebellion was in all probability a Mithraic socioreligious movement against the caliphate; see footnote 2597. We shall be dealing with this in a later work. 2270 Shaked 1994a, p. 46. 2271 See Chapters 4 and 6.
2267 See

2266 Parpeci

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While underlining their conﬁdence for the continued prevalence of Mihr worship in Iran, scholars have long bemoaned the dearth of evidence to this effect.2270 Giving a synopsis of the variegated panorama of religious life in Sasanian Iran, however, we have attempted to single out the prevalence of Mihr worship among the Parthian dynasts, especially the K¯rins and the Mihr¯ns, a a ruling in the quarters of the north and the east (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n and k¯st-i u a a a u khwar¯s¯n) of the Sasanian domain. The political rivalry between the Sasanians aa and the Parthians was exacerbated by religious disparity, if not outright conﬂict. Like the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav sociopolitical rivalry, this dichotomy had a geographical dimension. The quarters of the east and the north, regions which continued to be ruled by Parthian dynastic families even after the demise of the Sasanians,2271 were particularly affected by strong currents of Mihr worship. Insofar as the Sasanian kings, not being trained theologians, might have adhered to various forms of popular worship, we might argue that Mihr worship was as prevalent among the Sasanian kings as it was among the Parthian dynastic families. If, on the other hand, the orthodoxy that a number of Sasanian kings upheld was in fact the Zurvanite heresy, then clearly the Parthian dynasts of the quarters of the north and east did not partake in it. Enough evidence has hopefully been presented to testify to the prevalence of Mihr worship among the K¯rins and the Mihr¯ns. While little evidence seems to survive for the pria a macy of Mihr worship among the Ispahbudh¯n family, we argued that their a

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traditional homeland was Parthava, the regions under the control of the Prince of the Medes, that is to say, Khur¯s¯n and Azarb¯yj¯n.2272 Considering the aa a a strong Mithraic currents present in these regions, it is plausible therefore that this agnatic Parthian dynastic family may also have partaken in the religious dimensions of agnatic worship prevalent in the regions under their control.2273 What is more, the type of Mihr worship practiced by these Parthian families seems to be substantially different from the devotion of Mihr that was incorporated in the orthodox Zoroastrian creed. As Shaked has argued, “Mihr was . . . identiﬁed with the Sun, and the worship of the sun could be understood as the worship of Mihr.” In orthodox Zoroastrianism, however, “Mihr’s position . . . is not so central that he would deserve to be placed at the top of the Pantheon.” In the orthodox conceptualization of the divine, other gods were clearly “lesser divinities, subordinate to the Creator [Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯].”2274 ua a While Shaked observes that “Ohrmazd himself was also identiﬁed with the sun in various Iranian areas, especially in the eastern Iranian provinces, as may be deduced from linguistic evidence,” the absence of any reference to Ah¯r¯ Mazua d¯ in any of the rebellions in the quarters of the north and the east investigated a in Chapter 6, and the central position of the Sun in all of these, is so conspicuous that we must conclude that these revolts had nothing to do with orthodox Zoroastrianism.2275 To what extent we can consider Mihr worship in the Pahlav domains as sectarian, strictly speaking, requires a great deal of further investigation. There is one last observation of Shaked that seems especially pertinent to the religious landscape of the regions under study here. As Shaked has argued, the “pluralism of faith that may have prevailed in the Sasanian period . . . is to all appearances not one that entailed necessarily a pluralism of sects.” There is no reason to assume, in other words, “that every shade of faith had, so to speak, its own church.”2276 In all the varieties of Iranian religious belief, including Mihr worship, religious identity was closely bound to ethnic identity. In the greater scheme of things, a Mazdean, no matter what his/her popular cosmogonical belief, or who his/her chief yazata, was an Iranian, who identiﬁed him/herself, if forced, in contradistinction to a non-Mazdean, who was an an¯r. The coalescence of e
page 188ff. §1.2 for the concept of agnatic group. 2274 Boyce 1979, p. 56. 2275 The evidence that we have gathered calls into question, or should at least be considered side-byside, Shaked’s subsequent claim, viz., that the “religious reality of the Sasanian period was such that Mihr, identiﬁed with the sun, was indeed a central god in the western regions of the empire.” Shaked 1994a, p. 92. Emphasis added. 2276 Shaked, Shaul, ‘Some Islamic Reports Concerning Zoroastrianism’, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 17, (1994b), pp. 43–84 (Shaked 1994b), p. 46. “It seems clear from what we know of the period from other sources, namely, that there were widespread deviations from the norms of the written religion, and that, as far as we can tell, many of these deviations simply did not exist as separate church structures.” Shaked 1994b, p. 46. Signiﬁcantly, two exceptions seem to be the S¯ aniya sect (the followers of Bih¯far¯ see §6.3, especially page 436) and the followers of B¯bak ıs¯ a ıd, a Khurramd¯ Ibid., p. 46–47. ın.
2273 See 2272 See

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the linguistic, religious, and ethnic dimensions of identity in Sasanian Iran in fact harked back to the Achaemenid period, when the term airya was used to connect language, descent, and religious afﬁliation in Darius I’s inscriptions at B¯ un (Behistun).2277 As Gnoli argues, the Avestan tradition “was an Aryan ıset¯ tradition par excellence.” Signiﬁcantly in fact, as Gnoli observes,2278 while the ethnicon airya never appears in the G¯th¯s, it does appear in the Younger a a Avest¯, in particular in the Yashts, and more speciﬁcally in the great Yashts, a namely those dedicated to An¯hit¯ (Yasht 5),2279 Tishtrya (Yasht 8),2280 Mithra a a (Yasht 10),2281 and the Fravashis (Yasht 13).2282 With the assimilation of the “different religious trends that are echoed in the Yashts, an assimilation which led to the formation of the Younger Avest¯, the tradition we might deﬁne as airya, a began to be an organic part of Zoroastrianism.” It was then, Gnoli argues, that “the foundations [were] laid of that substantial unity between religious tradition and national tradition, which was to be characteristic of the whole cultural history of ancient and, in part, medieval Iran.”2283 On some very crucial level, the national dimensions of identity as articulated in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition a a created a meta-history. The irony of it all was that with the conquest of the plateau by the Arabs, as Crone observes, the Iranians came into contact with a people for whom religious and national identity were equally compounded. Whoever the God of the Arabs was, he spoke Arabic. While the kingdom of the Sasanians ceased to exist in the Islamic period, the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav genealogical heritage of the ruling dynasties continued to inform the heritage of those who claimed descent from it, witnessed by the genealogical claims circulating in the tenth centuries among the Samanids, the Buyids, and most importantly, the patrons of the Sh¯hn¯ma, the family of a a Abdalrazz¯q.2284 Throughout the Sasanian period, therefore, except for pea riodic upsurges of centralization, the center–periphery discord, and the localized dimensions of identity, as articulated in an agnatic family structure, remained a paramount feature of Iranian society.2285 And as the surge of the ghul¯t2286 in the medieval period attests, the tension between orthodox and a heretic tendencies continued to inform Iranian history. But as attested by the
1989, p. 13. 1989, p. 35. 2279 Aban Yasht 1883, Ab¯n Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1883, ¯ a translated by James Darmesteter (Aban Yasht 1883), §§42, 49, 58, 69, and 117. 2280 Tishtar Yasht 1883, Tishtar Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1883, translated by James Darmesteter (Tishtar Yasht 1883), §§36, 56, 58, and 61. 2281 Mihr Yasht 1883, §§4 and 13. 2282 Frawardin Yasht 1883, §§10, 43, 44, 87, and 143. 2283 Gnoli 1989, pp. 35–36. 2284 For Abdalrazz¯q, see page 463 below, as well as Pourshariati 1995. a 2285 In this sense the history of Iran is no exception to that of any other region in the pre-modern world. One need not put forth an unwarranted claim to continuity to recognize this. 2286 The ghul¯t, literally the exaggerators, were various Sh¯ ite sects in Iran during the late antique to a ı early modern period. See Babayan, Kathryn, Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran, Harvard University Press, 2002 (Babayan 2002).
2278 Gnoli 2277 Gnoli

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C HAPTER 5: R ELIGION §5.5: C ONCLUSION

proliferation of the Sh¯hn¯ma tradition and the strength of its popular dissema a ination, and as reﬂected in the proliﬁc popular literature of Iran,2287 the ethnic and national dimensions of identity have, throughout Iranian history, superseded these centrifugal tendencies.

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2287 The author’s research into this will be forthcoming. The concepts of the ajam versus the Arab or the Turk infuse Iranian popular literature throughout the Qajar period. Their strong currents, in different terminologies, in the modern period of not only Iranian, but also Turkic and Arab modern histories is recognized by all.

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CHAPTER 6

Revolts of late antiquity in Khur¯s¯n and aa Tabarist¯n a .

and a during ¯ I (k¯ust-i khwar¯as¯an) beingthe quarter of the north (k¯ust-i bydurb¯adag¯an)dynastic the Sasanian period, for the most part controlled Parthian

n the previous chapter we argued that the histories of the quarter of the east

families, testify to the existence of popular religious practices prevalent in these regions. Moreover, the predominant popular form of this spirituality in Khur¯s¯n, Tabarist¯n, Gurg¯n, and the Caspian provinces, as well as in Azarb¯yaa . a a a j¯n,2288 was Mihr worship. Given also the prevalence of Mihr in pre-Christian a Armenia,2289 it can therefore be said that in an extensive stretch of territory from the northwest to the northeast of Iran, the most popular form of religious practice during the Sasanian period was Mihr worship. The evidence for this in our sources is, as we have seen and will hopefully continue to establish, overwhelming. Moreover, our evidence will underline the substantial and direct continuity of religious practices prevalent in these regions of Iran from the late Sasanian period through at least the ﬁrst century and a half of post-conquest Iranian history. In order to establish this we ﬁrst take up an investigation of the religious dimensions of a revolt whose political ramiﬁcations were already examined in Chapter 2: the revolt of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ (590–591). We have a u ın deferred a detailed study of its religious aspects to this chapter in order to highlight the shared religious landscape of this revolt with those that transpired in the quarters of the east and north of the former Sasanian domains after the eruption of the Abb¯sid revolution (747). After our analysis of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a a u b¯ rebellion, we will have to brieﬂy discuss the Abb¯sid revolution, before ın’s a we pick up, once again, our narrative.

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6.1

Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a u ın

The rebellion of the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ against Hormozd IV and Khusa a u ın row II in 590 was an unprecedented revolt in the history of the Sasanians, for it marked the ﬁrst signiﬁcant breakdown of the Sasanian–Parthian confederacy,
2288 For 2289 See

lack of space and time, we cannot present all our evidence for the latter region here. §5.4.4.

397

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§6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

when a Parthian dynast rebelled against the very legitimacy of the kingship of the Sasanians.2290 As a rebellion against the Sasanians, and in line with the religio-political ideology maintained by the dynasty and promulgated through their ideological machinery,2291 the revolt of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was naturally a u ın considered as the ultimate act of sacrilege. In the religio-political dogma promoted by the Sasanians and the orthodox religious establishment with which it sought at times to form a partnership, any rebellion against the state involved, by deﬁnition, apostasy. As it has been so cogently argued by Gnoli,2292 this deﬁnition of apostasy had a long heritage in the religio-political discourse of the Mazdean religion and the Iranian notion of kingship, and was not an invention of the Sasanians. Insofar as there was no clear deﬁnition of orthodoxy in the post-Avestan, pre-Sasanian history of Iran, however, the purview of apostasy could not have been very clearly deﬁned prior to the rise of the dynasty. Besides its implicit heretical purport, however, the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın embodied even more explicit and directly potent signs of heresy. For, as we shall argue in this section, a key feature of the Parthian dynast’s rebellion was its promulgation of and adherence to Mithraic currents of religiosity. What is our evidence for this? 6.1.1 Mithraic purview of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ rebellion a u ın’s

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§2.6.3. for instance our discussion in §5.2.1. 2292 Gnoli 1989, passim. 2293 Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2587–2588. ı 2294 Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2298. In assessing the signiﬁcance of this epithet of J¯m¯sp we should also ı a a recall that the Sasanian J¯m¯sp partook in all probability in the Mazdakite creed; see §4.3.1. a a 2295 See §4.4.1.
2291 See

2290 See

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A perusal of Ferdows¯ account of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrated from the leı’s a u ın, gitimist perspective of the Sasanians as articulated through the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a tradition, gives us a very signiﬁcant piece of information about this Mihr¯nid a Parthian dynast. While recounting the saga of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ on a numa u ın, ber of occasions, Ferdows¯ refers to the Parthian dynast as Bahr¯m-i Mihtarı a parast.2293 The only other ﬁgure that carries this epithet in the Sasanian sections of Ferdows¯ work is the Sasanian king J¯m¯sp,2294 the progenitor of the ı’s a a ¯ Al-i J¯m¯sp dynasty in G¯ an and eventually Tabarist¯n, and the ancestor of a a ıl¯ a . J¯ J¯ ansh¯h G¯vb¯rih, the Cow Devotee. We recall that it was this J¯ J¯ ıl-i ıl¯ a a a ıl-i ıl¯nsh¯h, the Cow Devotee, who, together with the family of Farrukhz¯d, aka a a a Z¯ ı, made a pact with the Arab armies.2295 There is very little doubt that ınab¯ Ferdows¯ epithet of Mihtar-parast, applied to J¯m¯sp and Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ is ı’s a a a u ın, the author’s poetic rendering for Mihr-parast, that is to say, a devotee of Mihr, and thus signals the Mithraic dimension of the religiosity of these two important dynastic ﬁgures in Sasanian history. The literal meaning of this term, “one who is devoted to one’s master”, makes little sense in this context since both ﬁgures in fact rebelled against their overlords. One can only deduce, therefore,

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN

that using poetic license to suit the rhyme and rhythm of his opus, the poet is simply substituting mihtar-parast for the intended Mihr-parast (Mihr devotee), giving us the actual religious afﬁliations of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Had this been our a u ın. only evidence of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Mihr worship, we would not be offering a a u ın’s strong case for it. Ferdows¯ rendition of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ as a Mihr worshipı’s a u ın per, however, is corroborated by Sebeos, who on two separate occasions refers to the rebel as Vahram Merhewandak, where Merhewandak or Mihrewandak is a literal translation of the servant of Mithra.2296 Many Mithraic motifs have been infused in Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrative. a u ın’s Before we get to the crux of the Mithraic framework of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın’s story, however, it is best to highlight some of the more nuanced reﬂections of it. According to the Sh¯hn¯ma, before embarking upon his wars in the east a a against S¯vih Sh¯h, who had attacked the Iranian realm during Hormozd IV’s a a reign, and against whom he was called in, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ prayed to God.2297 a u ın But from the description that follows it becomes apparent that the god to whom he prayed was not Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, but Mithra, the warrior-god of Justice. In his ua a prayer, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ entreated his god, whom he addressed as the Judge of a u ın Equity (d¯var-i d¯d o p¯k), to make a judgment call: if he reckoned this war to be a a a unjust (gar ¯n jang b¯d¯d b¯n¯ ham¯), then he should protect Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ ı ı a ı ı ı a u ın’s enemy S¯vih Sh¯h. If, on the other hand, he deemed Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ to be a a a u ın ﬁghting on his side (vagar man zi bahr-¯ tow k¯sham ham¯), that is to say, on the ı u ı side of justice, then the divinity should aid him. Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ subsequently a u ın asked the Judge to confer bliss on him and his army by replenishing the earth after the battle.2298 Now, like the literary narratives of P¯ uz’s war,2299 all the ır¯ Mithraic motifs are gathered here in Ferdows¯ narrative. The god in question ı’s is a Judge who, based on his decisions as to on whose side Justice resides, will
2296 For Sebeos’ narrative on Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a u ın’s rebellion, see Sebeos 1999, pp. 14–23, especially n. 104, and pp. 168, 169, n. 8. It must be noted that in the accounts of Sebeos, when asking the aid of Mušeł Mamikonean, the Armenian sparapet, against Khusrow II, and promising him remuneration, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ prayed to Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ and other gods besides Mihr: “If I shall be victorious, I a u ın ua a swear by the great god Aramazd, by the lord Sun and the Moon, by ﬁre and water, by Mihr and all the gods.” This is evidently an indication that the Mihr worship of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ did not a u ın necessarily exclude his worship of Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, but only points to the primacy of Mihr in the ua a rebel’s religious beliefs. 2297 The Xw ad¯y-N¯mag and the Arabic traditions ignore Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a a a u ın’s campaigns in the west (see page 125) on behalf of Hormozd IV, the failure of which, according to western sources, was the actual cause of Hormozd IV’s disenchantment with Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Instead, for reasons that a u ın. will become apparent shortly, the emphasis is put on Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ campaigns in the east and a u ın’s his tremendous success in that region. 2298 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 364, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2613: ı ı
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2299 See

our discussion on page 380ff.

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§6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

undertake to help the aggrieved party, and subsequently undertakes to replenish the realm that has been destroyed through the acts of the aggressor. Here we have an amalgam of all the Mithraic motifs come together. The warrior dimension of Mihr has already been discussed in detail.2300 We have also highlighted the intimate connection of Mihr worship, in its Iranian context, with the notions of a just versus an unjust war, as well as the connection of war to notions of just kingship, the Circle of Justice,2301 and welfare of the realm and the populace. It seems very probable therefore that the god to whom Bahr¯m-i a Mihrewandak prays is none other than the warrior god of Justice, the God of Contracts, that is, Mithra.2302 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ subsequently successfully defended the realm against the a u ın aggression of S¯vih Sh¯h, and his son, Parm¯dih. After his defeat, however, a a u Parm¯dih asked Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ for refuge (zinh¯r). Now, “taking refuge (zinu a u ın a h¯r) [into Mithra]” likewise betrays a clear Mithraic terminology, reminiscent a of the personal seal of D¯d-Burz-Mihr (D¯dmihr), the Parthian sp¯hbed of the a a a east of Hormozd IV, who takes refuge (pan¯h) in the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre.2303 It is a ın in Mithra that an aggrieved party takes refuge seeking his protection, as well as aid against an aggressor and breaker of pacts. Later in the narrative, Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ openly accused Khusrow II Parv¯ of not abiding by the god’s contract u ın ız (peym¯n). Considering the oath-breaking of Khusrow II, moreover, Bahr¯m-i a a Ch¯b¯ proclaimed that as it was his camp only that had justice, Mihr, armour, u ın and hand, he was certain to be victorious.2304 The notion of dast, hand, as in the hand that will be lent by Mithra to aid the aggrieved and bestow victory, is also patently Mithraic.2305 In the Mihr Yasht, the supplicants have outstretched hands when entreating for the aid of Mithra.2306 All these Mithraic motifs coalesce in the ways in which Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ described himself and the enemy. Initially a u ın against S¯vih Sh¯h,2307 and later against Khusrow II, the Justice of Bahr¯m-i a a a Ch¯b¯ cause was always assessed self-referentially.2308 u ın’s
page 352. page 354. 2302 See page 351. 2303 Gyselen 2001a, p. 46, seal A. Ferdows¯ 1935, pp. 2631–2633. ı 2304 See footnote 2308. 2305 For a brilliant exposition of this see Soudavar 1980, pp. 13–16. As Soudavar explains, in the rock relief of Sh¯p¯r I in B¯ ap¯r where the king’s successive victories over Gordian III (238–244), a u ısh¯ u Philip the Arab (244–249) and Valerian (253–260) are depicted, an angel is seen offering a ﬂying ribbon (dast¯r), a purveyor of victory, to “Sh¯p¯r who is depicted with one already ﬂoating behind a a u his head.” Sh¯p¯r I, moreover, is depicted as “squeezing the wrist of the captive Roman emperor a u (captivity and submission are termed dastgir in Middle and New Persian.)” Ibid., pp. 13–14, nn. 33 and 38, and ﬁg. 2, p. 149. 2306 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 113; Mihr Yasht 1883, §83. 2307 Ironically, after his rebellion, the Kh¯q¯n of the Turks was also on Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ a a a u ın’s side. 2308 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 32, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2697: ı ı
2301 See
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2300 See

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Tabar¯ narrative suggests that supernatural forces were at work in the ﬁı’s . nal episode of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ struggle against Khusrow II Parv¯ but fails a u ın’s ız, to identify their agency: When Khusrow II Parv¯ “got trapped in a deﬁle,” ız according to Tabar¯ Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ pursued him, “but when Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ı, a u ın a u . b¯ was sure that he had Abarw¯ in his power something that could not be ın ız comprehended [i.e., some supernatural power] took the latter up to the top of the mountain.”2309 In Ferdows¯ narrative, however, this supernatural force is ı’s identiﬁed as the angel Sor¯sh, the right hand aide to the god Mihr. The god u Sraoša (Sor¯sh), the hypostasis and genius of Discipline, is “in this capacity . . . u a natural ally of Mithra the guardian of Contract, and of Rašnu the judge . . . [This] divine triad remains throughout the development of Zoroastrianism in charge of prosecuting the wicked . . . [Sraoša’s] speciﬁc function within the triad . . . must have been that of a punisher.”2310 While Khusrow II is saved by the angel Sor¯sh, however, there is no guarantee that, as a breaker of Contract, he u is saved from his wrath. According to Ferdows¯ when Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ ﬁnally opted to mint coins ı, a u ın in the name of Khusrow II Parv¯ he chose a messenger, whom the author ız, compares to Sor¯sh.2311 So although initially Sor¯sh supported Bahr¯m-i Ch¯u u a u b¯ he then apparently switched sides, for it was this same god who ensured ın, Khusrow II Parv¯ victory in his last desperate attempt against the rebel. Khusız’s row II, having found himself in a cul-de-sac, entreated God, asking him to come to his aid in his hour of weakness. Suddenly and miraculously, Sor¯sh appeared u from the mountains, riding a horse and wearing a green garb. He grabbed the hand of Khusrow II (cho nazd¯k shod dast-i Khusrow girift) and carried the ı king to the heavens, to safety. In tears, Khusrow II then implored the angel to disclose his identity, at which point the latter identiﬁed himself as Sor¯sh u and prognosticated for Khusrow II that he would soon assume the throne and warned him that thenceforth he should act piously.2312
Mihr, of course, could be read here as friendship, which given the context, would be rather absurd! 2309 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 313–314, de Goeje, 1000. ı . 2310 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 193. Emphasis added. 2311 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 419: ı
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2312 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 121:

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Once again, as in the narrative of the K¯rins’ aid to Khusrow I Nowsh¯ a ırv¯n in his wars in the east,2313 a green-clad rider, the symbolic representation of a Mithra, who in this case happened to be actually his right hand aide, the angel Sor¯sh, mysteriously appeared to aid a Sasanian king back to the throne. The u fact that Sor¯sh here came to the aid of Khusrow II Parv¯ rather than Bahr¯mu ız a i Ch¯b¯ however, most probably represents a classic case of co-option of the u ın, divinity of one enemy’s camp into one’s own.2314 In fact the one monarch who is certain to have tampered with the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition when the account a a did not please him is Khusrow II Parv¯ 2315 ız. There is little doubt that the rebellion of the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın was attended by strong currents of Mihr worship. That the Parthian version of Mihr worship was in fact hostile to the religion advocated by the Sasanian kings of Pers¯ is also conﬁrmed by Ferdows¯ narrative: the Mihr worship of ıs ı’s Bahr¯m-i Mihrewandak was distinct from that of the Sasanian king Khusrow II a Parv¯ The clearest reﬂection of this is Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ agenda of destroyız. a u ın’s ing the ﬁre temples (konad b¯ zam¯n r¯st ¯tashkadih) of the Sasanian realm.2316 a ı a a The Pahlav rebel not only promised to renew justice and the traditions of the Arsacid Mithradates (Mil¯d) in the world,2317 but also claimed to be the very a apotheosis of the ﬁery ﬁre of Burz¯ Mihr.2318 He also promised, as we have ın seen, to destroy the festivals of Nowr¯z and Sadih.2319 u
I owe this reference to Dr. Asef Kholdani. pages 113 and 380. 2314 This, it has been argued, for example, was one of the reasons why the Romans adopted the god of their enemy, the Parthians, when they started to worship Mithras on such an extensive and grand scale. Speidel, Michael P., ‘Parthia and the Mithraism of the Roman Army’, Études Mithraiques IV, (1978), pp. 470–485 (Speidel 1978), pp. 470–485. 2315 The intervention of censoring Sasanian monarchs seems to have been the most acute precisely in the rendition of those periods of their history when their legitimacy was questioned. And this was certainly the case with Khusrow II Parv¯ By adopting the angelology of the enemy, Khusız. row II also usurped the legitimacy that the angel is supposed to bestow on the rebel, Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ In Bayhaq¯ Ibr¯h¯ b. Muhammad, Al-Mah¯sin wa ’l-Mas¯w¯, Giessen, 1902, edited by u ın. ı, a ım a ı .a . F. Schwally (Bayhaq¯ 1902), we are informed that at the end of Khusrow II Parv¯ wars with ı ız’s Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ the monarch “ordered his secretary to write down an account of those wars and a u ın, relate events in full, from the beginning to the end. The secretary complied, and when they read off the narrative to Xusrau [Khusrow II], its preface did not please him. Thereupon a young secretary wrote an eloquent and rhetorical prologue to the work and presented it to the king. Xusrau . . . was delighted with it and ordered the promotion of the young scribe to a higher grade.” Bayhaq¯ 1902, ı p. 481, quoted in Shahbazi 1990, p. 210. For an example in the case of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ story, see a u ın’s J¯hiz’s comment on page 34. a. 2316 The catch of the narrative is that this the rebel claims on behalf of S¯vih Sh¯h. a a 2317 Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 32, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2697: ı ı
2313 See
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2318 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 32, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2697: ı
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2319 Yarshater

1983b, p. 458; Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. IX, p. 32, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2697: ı ı

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN

Khusrow II Parv¯ in fact accused Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ of irreligion and this, ız a u ın not only in the context of the ofﬁcial Sasanian ideology, where rebellion was tantamount to heresy, but also on account of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ clear apostasy. a u ın’s “Zoroaster has said in the Zand,” Khusrow II declared to Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın, “that he who apostatizes from the pure religion (bar gardad az d¯n-i p¯k) has no ı a fear and fright of God.”2320 Lest this be construed as apostasy against the state, the literal irreligion and apostasy of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and his followers is fura u ın ther reiterated by Khusrow II Parv¯ in Ferdows¯ narrative. At the beginning ız ı’s of his war against Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Khusrow II prayed to the sun, whom he a u ın, also calls the Just and Illuminated (rowshan-i d¯dgar), vowing that if he wins a the war, “from the supporters of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ whomever is taken into a u ın, captivity, he will force them to become the worshippers of the glorious ﬁre (parastandih farrukh ¯tash konam), thereby placating the hearts of the m¯bads a o and herbads” (dil-i mowbad o h¯rbad khosh konam) of his domains.2321 When ı Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ became confronted with the possibility of a numerous army a u ın gathering around Khusrow II, and recognized that the war, having divided families, had pitted members of his camp against their relatives in Khusrow II’s camp, he instructed his army to lure to their side all of their relatives who were of the same inclination and faith (kih b¯shand yik dil bih goft¯r o k¯sh).2322 For a a ı if they gave their souls to his cause, in contract (bih peym¯n), then in Khusa row II’s camp there would remain only the armies of Barda a and Ardab¯ and a ıl few contingents from Armenia.2323 The antipathy of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ followers toward the m¯badic struca u ın’s o ture of Khusrow II’s regime is reiterated again and again in Ferdows¯ narrative. ı’s
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2320 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 34, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2699: ı
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2321 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 25, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2691: ı
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2322 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 42:
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2323 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 42, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2708: ı
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§6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

When Hormozd IV sent a woman’s attire to Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ as a recompense a u ın for his supposed disloyalty, the elite in Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ court reminded him a u ın’s of the wise man from Rayy who, at the rise to power of Ardash¯ I, had claimed: ır “I loathe the m¯bad and the throne of the king (b¯z¯ram az mowbad o takht-i o ı a sh¯h) when he does not pay heed to my protection.”2324 In one of his diaa tribes against Khusrow II Parv¯ while considering Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ as deserving ız, ua a ¯ of praise, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ nevertheless referred to him as your god (Urmazd-i a u ın 2325 shom¯). a According to Simocatta, furthermore, once Khusrow II Parv¯ deız cided to ﬂee his homeland, he “entrusted the reigns of his ﬂight to the supreme God; after looking up to heaven, and turning his thoughts to the Creator, disregarding the false gods and placing none of his hope in Mithras . . . and by changing faith he also changed fortune toward the better.”2326 From Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ epa u ın’s ithet Mihrewandak, slave of Mithra, to his claim that he was the very reincarnation of the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre and that Justice, Mihr, armour and hand—that is to ın say, Mihr with all his attributes—were on his side, to his platform of destroying the m¯badic ﬁres, and his declaration that Khusrow II had broken the contract o and Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ was his (Khusrow II’s) god, and ﬁnally to the rebel’s open ua a declaration that his camp detested the m¯bads, to Khusrow II’s avowed inteno tion of forcibly converting the captive followers of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ there is a u ın, every indication, therefore, that in the warfare of the Parthian Mihr¯ns against a the Sasanians we are witnessing a continuation of the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav religious antagonism. 6.1.2 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ and the apocalypse a u ın

Further evidence for the Mithraic purview of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion is a u ın’s its messianic character. Indeed, so powerful the image of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ as a u ın the saviour of Persia seems to have become that it left its mark on the Sasanian apocalyptic literature, where “he assumed the proportions of the Messiah promised in the sacred books.”2327 This messianic dimension of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a u b¯ rebellion is signiﬁcant for our purposes, not only on account of its clear ın’s Mithraic provenance, but also because the motifs associated with it are replicated in another rebellion that takes place in the same regions, Tabarist¯n and a .
2324 Ferdows¯ 1935, ı

p. 2646:
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With the variant Ferdows¯ 1971, vol. VIII, p. 399: ı
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2325 “When they bring this message to you, may your

Ohrmozd be blessed.” Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 2770. ı
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2326 Simocatta 2327 Czegledy

1986, iv.10.I, p. 116. Emphasis mine. 1958, p. 21.

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN

Khur¯s¯n, more than two centuries posterior to it, namely the revolt of the isaa pahbud p¯r¯z, the victorious sp¯hbed, Sunb¯d.2328 The superimposition of these ıu a a motifs on Sunb¯d’s rebellion undoubtedly betray, as we will see, the continued a prevalence of Mithraic currents in these regions in the mid-eighth century. To establish the apocalyptic dimension of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion, we a u ın’s will make extensive use of Czegledy’s excellent article ‘Bahr¯m Chub¯ and a ın the Persian Apocalyptic Literature’. There is, however, one crucial issue that is lost sight of in Czegledy’s fascinating analysis, namely that whenever these apocalyptic accounts take a legitimist tone from the Mihr¯nid perspective, they a are framed by thoroughly Mithraic motifs. This should come as no surprise since Mihr is not only the yazata in charge of fulﬁlling millennial expectations at the apocalypse,2329 but also the actual historical provenance of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a u b¯ rebellion is from within a region infused with Mithraic religiosity. As a ın’s dynastic leader, the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ belonged to the quarter of the a a u ın north,2330 and gathered his support from this region as well as from the quarter of the east, in both of which regions one of the most current forms of religiosity was Mihr worship.2331 So let us follow in some detail Czegledy’s argument, amending it where necessary with our argument as to the Mithraic dimension of the messianic motifs in Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion. According to Czegledy, there are a number of a u ın’s motifs, all historical, with which Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrative always appears a u ın’s in the apocalyptic sources such as the Zand i Vahuman Yasn, J¯m¯sp N¯mak and a a a Bundahishn.2332 These include Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ campaigns against the Westa u ın’s ern and Eastern Turks, through which Balkh, among other major cities, was conquered,2333 and the tremendous booty that Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ obtained on a u ın these campaigns.2334 Moreover, even if the narrative is sympathetic to Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ as is the case in the romance of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ he is always depicted u ın, a u ın, from the point of view of the legitimist claims of the Sasanians to kingship. In his examination of these accounts, Czegledy further highlights the importance of the Ctesian method 2335 in the Iranian historical tradition and shows how it applies in particular to the apocalyptic traditions surrounding Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a u b¯ In the Iranian epic romances, he argues, “many of the ancient heroes of ın. the religion are vested with traits of historic personalities who lived in the ages of the Achaemenids, Arsacidan and Sasanians.” Among these ancient Iranian heroes whose myths underwent such an anachronistic adaptation, the most

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§6.4. the eschatological dimension of Mihr, see page 353. 2330 We recall, for example, that the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed G¯ rg¯ n of the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n was Bahr¯m-i ea a o o u a a a a Ch¯b¯ grandfather; see page 103. u ın’s 2331 See §5.4. 2332 On these apocalyptic sources, see Daryaee, Touraj, ‘Apocalypse Now: Zoroastrian Reﬂection on the Early Islamic Centuries’, Medieval Encounters 4, (1998), pp. 188–202 (Daryaee 1998). 2333 Czegledy 1958, p. 24. 2334 Czegledy 1958, pp. 24–25. 2335 See footnote 609.
2329 For

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2328 See

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§6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

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1958, p. 28. For the T¯r¯nians, see Yarshater 1983b, pp. 408–409. ua 1958, p. 29. 2338 Czegledy 1958, p. 31. 2339 See page 380ff. 2340 Czegledy 1958, p. 31. 2341 Czegledy 1958, p. 33.
2337 Czegledy

2336 Czegledy

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important was Spand¯ adh, “the hero of Zoroaster’s Millennium who, at the ıy¯ time of Višt¯sp [Kai V¯ asp¯], thrice vanquished and ﬁnally killed Arj¯sp, the a ısht¯ a a prince of T¯r¯n,” the archenemy of Iran in the Iranian national epic.2336 Acua cording to Czegledy, one of these anachronistic adaptations in Spand¯ adh’s ıy¯ story took place under the inﬂuence of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ history. Mimicking a u ın’s the historical episodes of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ wars in Transoxiana, Spand¯ adh’s a u ın’s ıy¯ military campaign was extended beyond the city of Balkh, a feat that was never actually undertaken by him in the Old Iranian epic. In these later versions, however, Spand¯ adh crossed the Oxus and progressed as far as the Copper ıy¯ Fortress, the T¯r¯nian capital, where he killed Arj¯sp, the T¯r¯nian king. We ua a ua have therefore three new motifs in Spand¯ adh’s story in the later versions of ıy¯ his epic: 1) his crossing of the Oxus; 2) the mention of the Copper City and; 3) his murder of the T¯r¯nian prince, all of which follow Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ ua a u ın’s story.2337 Now, from Tibetan texts of Tun-Huang origin we know that around 750 the Copper City was the name of the capital of the Central Asian Uyghurs. Mad¯natu as-sufriya and, “in part also the Persian Dizh-i R¯y¯n . . . are [therefore] ı o ı .. translations of the Turkish Baqir Baliy mentioned in the Tibetan text.”2338 In the Persian traditions, the Copper City, R¯y¯n Dizh, is located either, signiﬁu ı cantly, in the vicinity of R¯m P¯ uz, the city established by the Sasanian king a ır¯ P¯ uz near Rayy,2339 or in the city of Paykand, about thirty kilometers from ır¯ Bukh¯r¯.2340 But it is not only in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition that we witness aa a a a superimposition of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ apocalyptic stories. a u ın’s According to Czegledy, the ﬁgure of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ together with all the a u ın, motifs of his narrative, were also anachronistically inserted in the most important apocalyptic literature of the Sasanian period. When describing the events of the Fourth Millennium, the J¯m¯sp N¯mak “vividly portrays the emergence a a a of a false pretender. This insigniﬁcant and dark (khvartak ut apa’t¯k) person ara rives, with a great army, from Khorasan and, after seizing power, he disappears (apa’t¯k bavet), in the middle of his reign (miy¯n ¯ p¯takhsh¯h¯h), whereupon a a ı a a ı the realm is overtaken by foreigners. Then comes the victorious king (Aparv¯z e Khvat¯y), who conquers large territories, as well as many cities from the Roa mans. The fortunes of Iran are thenceforth in decline, with misery and great distress, when it is best not to be born to witness the great disasters that engulfs the kingdom at the end of Zoroaster’s Millennium.”2341 Czegledy brilliantly points out the parallels of the J¯m¯sp N¯mak’s false pretender and the context in which a a a he appears with the ﬁgure of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and the history of the Sasanians a u ın in the late sixth century. Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ too, appeared from Khur¯s¯n as a a u ın, aa false pretender. In line with the legitimist dimensions of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, he, a a

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN

too, is depicted as a low-born man, who seized power through violence. And “above all, it was Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ who disappeared in the midst of his reign. a u ın The subsequent rule by foreigners is an obvious reference to the fact that the reign of Khusrov II was reestablished by the Byzantine army.”2342 The story of the victorious king (Aparv¯z Khvat¯y), who took away large territories and e a many cities from the Romans, refers then to Khusrow II Parv¯ reign, whereas ız’s the subsequent decline, when “misery engulfed the land”, is a clear reference to the Arab invasion of Iran.2343 What is even more signiﬁcant for our purposes, however, is Czegledy’s assertion that next, “the text describes the eschatological ¯ battle of Mihr and Ešm [Kheshm].” This, Czegledy believes, is actually portraying “the war of the Mohammedan conquerors against Zoroastrianism.”2344 Now, in the introductory passages of the J¯m¯sp N¯mak, when the ﬁnal cola a a ¯ a lapse of Er¯nshahr at the end of the millennium at the hands of the T¯z¯ an a ıy¯ (i.e., the Arabs) is given in a synopsis, the cause of the calamity is ascribed to the people’s oath-breaking (mihr duruj¯ or peym¯n shekan¯). People exhibited ı a ı hatred (k¯n), envy (rashk) and falsehood (durugh) against each other.2345 It is to ı be remarked, incidentally, that according to our analysis of the Arab conquest and the P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav factional strife, this is precisely what happened. It is signiﬁcant in this context therefore, that the Mithraic concept of oath-breaking (mihr duruj¯, peym¯n shekan¯) is used here. At any rate, after a detailed deı a ı scription of the wretchedness to which people succumbed at the onset of the T¯z¯ an conquest,2346 the text begins to give a somewhat more detailed chronoa ıy¯ logical narrative of the prior conditions that had led to the ﬁnal calamity.2347 It is to this latter section that Czegledy’s perceptive identiﬁcation of Bahr¯ma i Ch¯b¯ narrative refers. Here indeed almost all of the historical episodes u ın’s of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion, Khusrow II’s assumption of the throne with a u ın’s the aid of the Byzantines, his subsequent war against and victories over the latter,2348 the havoc under his sons and ﬁnally the onslaught of the Turks, the Byzantines and the Arabs against the Iranians are one by one brieﬂy depicted. A Mithraic end-of-time scenario, or as Czegledy puts it, the “eschatological ¯ battle of Mihr and Ešm [Kheshm]” is therefore offered. There then comes a passage that Czegledy considers to be interpolated, where the theme of Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ is repeated through a description of a false pretender. This time the false u ın pretender, together with a large army, arrived, signiﬁcantly, from the direction of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z, had pretensions to leadership (khud¯vand¯), and through u e o a ı a lot of bloodshed conquered cities and was victorious. At the end, however,

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1958, p. 34. 1958, pp. 32–34. 2344 Czegledy 1958, p. 33. 2345 Jamasp 1941, Y¯dg¯r-i J¯m¯sp, Sokhan, 1941, translated by Sadegh Hedayat (Jamasp 1941), a a a a p. 116. 2346 Jamasp 1941, pp. 116–118. 2347 Jamasp 1941, p. 118. 2348 His ultimate defeat is, of course, skipped over.
2343 Czegledy

2342 Czegledy

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§6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

this rebel ﬂed from the hands of his enemies to Z¯bulist¯n and recuperated. In a a ¯ a the process, the population of Er¯nshahr descended from the heights to utter hopelessness and sought refuge for their own lives.2349 The end of this false pretender is not described.2350 In analyzing this section, however, Czegledy maintains that this passage “is obviously closely related to the previous narrative [of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın].” It is once again a false pretender that brings misery on Iran. While the end of this ﬁgure is not narrated, moreover, Czegledy believes that the whole “passage seems to be an incomplete doublet of the former narrative,” the difference being that while in the former Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ accurately a u ın comes from Khur¯s¯n, in this one he comes from the south.2351 One must not aa be put off, Czegledy argues, by the fact that in this version our ﬁgure appears from N¯ uz, for we do have certain traditions according to which Bahr¯m-i ımr¯ a Ch¯b¯ comes from F¯rs. As far as the mention of Z¯bulist¯n is concerned, we u ın a a a do know that, as Nöldeke conﬁrmed, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ “army actually rallied a u ın’s from Hephthalite territory.”2352 The nature of apocalyptic literature—where layers of tradition are superimposed on each other—is such that Czegledy’s arguments about this passage might very well be accurate. There is, however, a variant reading of this passage that might actually make more sense. This passage might more appropriately be seen as depicting the revolt of Ust¯ds¯ (circa a ıs 767 CE) rather than being a doublet of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrative, for all the a u ın’s elements of Ust¯ds¯ rebellion are incorporated here. Unfortunately, lack of a ıs’ space prevents us from elaborating this point further here.2353 The motif of treasure After the interpolated passage, there is a second narrative in the J¯m¯sp N¯mak a a a that portrays Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ in apocalyptic terms. In this passage, a man a u ın saw the god (¯zad) Mihr on the seacoast of Padhashkhw¯rgar (Tabarist¯n), who ı a a . told him many secrets. Mihr then sent this man with a message to the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar. “Why are you maintaining this blind and deaf (kar o k¯r) a u kingship,” Mihr asked. “You, yourself must assume kingship as your ancestors had,” Mihr exhorted the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar.2354 “How am I to assume a kingship when I own not an army or commanders, nor a treasury as my ancestors did”, the king retorted. At this the envoy showed the king of Padhashkhw¯ra gar the treasures of Afr¯s¯ ab. Once the king obtained these treasures, he set a ıy¯ out with an army from Z¯bulist¯n against the enemy. When the Turks, the a a Arabs and the Romans (Byzantines) learned of the take-over of the treasure of
2349 Jamasp

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1941, p. 119:
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1941, p. 119. Czegledy 1958, p. 31. 1958, p. 31. 2352 Czegledy 1958, p. 34. 2353 For the background of Ust¯ds¯ rebellion, see Pourshariati 1995. a ıs’s 2354 Jamasp 1941, p. 119. Czegledy 1958, p. 37.
2351 Czegledy

2350 Jamasp

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN

Afr¯s¯ ab by the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar, they conspired to capture him and a ıy¯ a obtain his treasures. The king of Padhashkhw¯rgar then engaged his enemies a ¯ a in the middle of Er¯nshahr, in a region called the White Forest.2355 With the “power of the gods (Yazd¯n), the farra [Divine Glory] of the Kay¯nids, and a a that of the religion of the Mazdeans, with the farra of the Padhashkhw¯rgar a ¯ a ¯ ¯ and [with the aid of] Mihr, Sor¯sh, Rashnu, Ab¯n, Adhar¯n and Atash¯n,” the u a a king of Padhashkhw¯rgar defeated his enemies.2356 Then, at Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯’s a ua a order, Sor¯sh, along with Pash¯tan, came from the fortress of the Kay¯nids, u u a Kang Dizh. Together with 150 of his companions, wearing black and white ¯ clothes, Pash¯tan then went to P¯rs, to the abode of Atash (the god of ﬁre) and u a ¯ an (the god of water), reciting the Yashts and performing other rituals, thus Ab¯ ending the Age of the Wolf and starting that of the Lamb, when the Zoroastrian religion was established.2357 Czegledy aptly recognizes that this section of the J¯m¯sp N¯mak “even to a a a a greater degree than the foregoing passages, betrays that it was composed under the impression of Bahr¯m Cob¯ historical part.”2358 Padhashkhw¯rgar is a a ˇ ın’s a clear reference to the ancestral territories of the Mihr¯ns, that is, the regions of a Rayy and Tabarist¯n, and the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar refers to the dynastic a a . leader of these regions in the period under consideration, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın. What is even more signiﬁcant, Czegledy reminds us, is that the envoy urges the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar to recall his own kingly heritage when contemplata ing rebellion. It is clear, Czegledy argues, that the dynasty to which the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar belonged was different from that of the blind and deaf king, a in whose person we ﬁnd an unmistakable reference to Hormozd IV, who was, in fact, blinded by his uncles, the Ispahbudh¯n Vind¯yih and Vist¯hm.2359 Incia u a dentally, we should keep in mind that in the Mithraic conception of kingship, an illegitimate king is also depicted as being blind and deaf: Mithra induces fear “in men who are false to the contract” by carrying “off . . . the light of their eyes, the hearing of their ears.”2360 It is Mithra who switches off the “eyesight, [and] deafens the . . . ears” of the enemy.2361 By contrast, it is Mithra who has “a thousand perceptions, [and] ten thousand eyes for seeing all around.”2362 We recall that these were also precisely Fereyd¯n’s attributes, when from the Alburz u mountains, he circled the globe and saw all there was to be seen.2363
2355 As Czegledy remarks the “White Forest is an archaism . . . [It is in] a more pedantic than apocalyptic style that the compilers [of the Zand i Vahuman Yasn] enumerate all the great battles which, according to the Iranian romances, were fought in the White Forest.” Czegledy 1958, p. 38. Emphasis added. 2356 Jamasp 1941, p. 120. 2357 Jamasp 1941, p. 120. 2358 Czegledy 1958, p. 37. Emphasis mine. 2359 See page 127. 2360 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 85. Mihr Yasht 1883, §23. 2361 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 97. Mihr Yasht 1883, §48. 2362 Mihr Yasht 1959, pp. 77, 113, 117 and 145 respectively. Mihr Yasht 1883, §§7, 82, 91, 141. 2363 See page 372.

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1958, p. 37. 1958, p. 38. Emphasis added. 2366 Czegledy 1958, p. 38. Emphasis added. 2367 See §5.4.2. 2368 See page 353. 2369 This too, as the Mihr Yasht informs us, is a function of Mithra: he “bestows riches and fortune . . . and much comfort.” Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 127; Mihr Yasht 1883, §108.
2365 Czegledy

2364 Czegledy

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According to Czegledy, the role of the envoy sent by Mihr to the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar is replicated in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition of the Sh¯hn¯ma a a a a a by Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ companions. Like the envoy of Mihr, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın’s a u ın’s companions argued that the Mihr¯nid himself was entitled to kingship based a on his Arsacid lineage.2364 The reference to Padhashkhw¯rgar Sh¯h’s initial a a poverty of means and his subsequent wealth through obtaining the treasury of Afr¯s¯ ab, Czegledy argues, is a clear reference to “the vast booty which Bahr¯ma ıy¯ a i Ch¯b¯ acquired after the defeat of the Hephthalites and Turks and the killing u ın of the Turkish Khaqan.”2365 In short all the motifs of the historical episode of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion can be found in this apocalyptic narrative. There a u ın’s is, however, one very telling curiosity and difference in this version of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrative with the one that preceded it, and Czegledy himself a u ın’s acknowledges this. In this version of the apocalyptic narrative, the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar actually fulﬁlled the messianic expectation and reestablished a order, legitimate kingship, and the good religion. In Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ story a u ın’s there was no such blessed ending: his rebellion ended in terrible defeat. The legitimist tenor of all the Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narratives, wherein a base-born rebel a u ın severely disrupts the natural order of things, is conspicuously absent in this narrative. “At ﬁrst sight it appears,” Czegledy perceptively realizes, “that the author of this vaticination does not regard Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯n as a false pretender a u ı . . . [and] even looks down upon the reigning king as a deaf and blind king.” The narrative has a positive ending, Czegledy believes, because “at this point, all allusions to the history of Bahr¯m Cob¯ come to an end . . . So, at this point, a ˇ ın we deal with a genuine forecast of the future . . . a victorious Prince of the Last Days, the king of Patašxv¯rgar, alias Bahr¯m Cob¯ is heir to the legitimate a a ˇ ın, 2366 reign of the Kayanians.” What Czegledy fails to perceive here, however, is the thoroughly Mithraic provenance of this second, positive depiction of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ in the J¯a u ın a m¯sp N¯mak. Considering all that has been said about the Mithraic predileca a tions of the Parthian Mihr¯n dynasty,2367 and considering the primary eschatoa logical responsibilities of Mihr,2368 therefore, it is no surprise that in this second narrative—where he is not portrayed as a base-born rebel and the potential destroyer of the legitimate Sasanian kingship, but as an equally legitimate dynast of Kay¯nid ancestry—it was the god Mihr who shored up the king of Pada hashkhw¯rgar (Tabarist¯n) against the Aparv¯z Khvat¯y (Khusrow II Parv¯ a a e a ız). . It was Mihr who provided him with Afr¯s¯ ab’s treasury,2369 and it was Mihr a ıy¯ who, true to his function as a warrior god, supplied him with a powerful army.

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.1: BAHRAM - I C HUBIN

In fact, in all versions of the apocalypse in the J¯m¯sp N¯mak, the Last Days’ a a a onslaught starts not with the attack of Ahr¯ ıman against Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, but with ua a that of Mihr against Kheshm.2370 Here, in fact, the J¯m¯sp N¯mak replicates the a a a narrative found in the Mihr Yasht. As a mediator god, or Arbiter, the cosmological role of Mihr is quite signiﬁcant in the Mihr Yasht,2371 where he bestows legitimate kingship and an army to the king against his enemy: “On whom shall I bestow against his expectation [as is the case with Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ in the posa u ın itive Mithraic depiction of him] an excellent . . . powerful kingdom, beautifully strong thanks to a numerous army. Once he rules he appeases through Mithra, by honouring the treaty.”2372 The Mithraic, messianic dimension of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ second narrative a u ın’s is nowhere better exempliﬁed than in the very name of the hero as it appears in other apocalyptic literature. For while the J¯m¯sp N¯mak does not mention a a a the name of our hero, the Zand i Vahuman Yasn and Bundahishn identify him both by his appropriate title Kai Bahr¯m.2373 As Czegledy remarks it “is in a this name that the motifs of Bahr¯m’s history and the ancient apocalyptic elea ments are perfectly fused.”2374 What is signiﬁcant for our purposes is that the name “Wahr¯m, V@r@tragna, in the ancient apocalyptic nomenclature, is the a . customary and well-known expression of the hope that the eschatological vic¯ a tory will be achieved for Er¯n by the Genius of Victory himself, Wahr¯m.”2375 a In Zoroastrianism, especially in its Mithraic articulations, Verethragn¯ (Waha r¯m, Bahr¯m, P¯ uz) is the quintessential apotheosis of the god of victory. In a a ır¯ the Mihr Yasht, speciﬁcally, it is Verethragn¯ (Bahr¯m) who ﬂies in front of a a Mithra.2376 Most of the divinities that help Kai Bahr¯m, the Padhashkhw¯rgar a a Sh¯h in the J¯m¯sp N¯mak, namely, the Divine Fortune (farr) of the Kay¯nids a a a a a ¯ a ¯ and of the Mazdean religion, Sor¯sh, Rashnu, and the gods Ab¯n, Adhar¯n and u a ¯ Atash¯n, furthermore, are precisely those that accompany Mithra in the Mihr a Yasht.2377 Even in the Bundahishn, where the positive depiction of Kai Bahr¯m a
2370 Jamasp 1941, pp. 119–120. For a synopsis of the speciﬁc characteristics of the literature of the apocalypse as a genre, see Collins, John, ‘Genre, Ideology and Social Movements in Jewish Apocalypticism’, in John J. Collins and James H. Charlesworth (eds.), Mysteries and Revelations: Apocalyptic Studies since the Uppsala Colloquium, pp. 11–33, Shefﬁeld Academic Press, 1991 (Collins 1991). The legitimist aspect of the genre of apocalypse is particularly pertinent to the present study, of course. As Collins explains, “the genre of apocalypse can be said to have a function, for example, to legitimate the transcendent authorization of the message.” Ibid., p. 19. For another important example of the Persian apocalyptic tradition, see Hulgårt, Anders, ‘Bahman Yahsht: A Persian Apocalypse’, in John J. Collins and James H. Charlesworth (eds.), Mysteries and Revelations: Apocalyptic Studies since the Uppsala Colloquium, pp. 114–134, Shefﬁeld Academic Press, 1991 (Hulgårt 1991). 2371 As Gershevitch maintains, Mithra “came eventually to be thought of as divine judge par excellence.” Mihr Yasht 1959, pp. 34–35, 53. Belardi 1979, pp. 697–698. Emphasis mine. 2372 Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 127. Mihr Yasht 1883, §109. Emphasis mine. 2373 Czegledy 1958, p. 39. 2374 Czegledy 1958, p. 39. 2375 Czegledy 1958, p. 39. 2376 See footnote 2257. 2377 Among Mihr’s companions are listed the Mazdayasnian Religion, Sraoša (Sor¯ sh), Rašnu u

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is incorporated, upon closer scrutiny, the ambivalent position of Kai Bahr¯m a toward the Mazdean religion is traceable.2378 Czegledy argues that two factors marred the “joy after the great victory [?] of eschatological proportions.” One was the actual military defeat of Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ and the other is the evidence that is provided in Simocatta’s writing. u ın For according to the latter, after Khusrow II’s ﬂight to the Byzantines, Bahr¯ma i Ch¯b¯ “got angry with the clergy (the m¯bads), who thought differently.”2379 u ın o Czegledy never makes it clear, however, why Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ should have a u ın gotten angry with the clergy. We have said enough thus far to explicate Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ presumed anger against them: the Mihr¯ns rejected the m¯a u ın’s a o badic arm of the étatiste endeavors of the Sasanians, because, in addition to their other issues with the P¯rs¯ they had a different doctrinal interpretation of a ıg, faith. It is only in the context of the Mithraic provenance of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a u b¯ rebellion, therefore, that we can understand why his followers “continued ın’s to expect his return [even] after his ﬁnal disappearance . . . and . . . death . . . It was at this time, that Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ . . . became a messianic ﬁgure, not unlike a u ın Ush¯tar, Ush¯tar-m¯h or S¯shyant.”2380 e e a o

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¯ (Rashnu), the Kavyan Fortune (farr), the Fire Fortune (¯ Izad-i Adhar), and the most important ¯ a of all, Ap m Nap¯t, the grandson of the waters (Ab¯n). Mihr Yasht 1959, p. 59. a 2378 In the Bundahishn, the farr of Kai Bahr¯m came from the seed of the gods (bid¯ farra az d¯a u u dih-i bagh¯n ast). Bundahishn 1990, p. 142. Is this a reference to the fact that it is Mihr who a bestows Kingly Glory? But then, when Kai Bahr¯m assumed kingship, he established the religion of a Zoroaster (d¯n-i zardusht r¯ barp¯ d¯rad). It is to be noted that in the primary text of the Bundahishn ı a a a based on which Bahar has edited his text, the phrase d¯n-i zardusht r¯ barp¯ d¯rad is broken precisely ı a a a where the word barp¯ comes in. In other words barp¯ comes at the beginning of the next folio. The a a point is that, if not an editorial change, the word barp¯ can easily have been inserted as a result of a a scribal error, or intentionally, instead of bar. In this latter case the phrase would read d¯n-i zardusht ı r¯ bar d¯rad (destroyed Zoroaster’s creed). With a slight change, therefore, the meaning of the text a a would change drastically. Here Kai Bahr¯m, true to his Mithraic beliefs, and in opposition to the a religion established by the m¯bads, came to destroy the religion of Zoroaster, in which case the rest o of the passage would make sense. Thereafter, “none could be found [that adhered to] any [other] creed (kas bih h¯ch giravish¯ peyd¯ natavan kard).” Then, however, Pash¯tan came from Kang Dizh, ı ı a u together with 150 pious (parh¯zg¯r) men and destroyed the temple (butkadih) that was “the abode ı a of their secrets and established the ﬁre of Bahr¯m in its place.” And he rectiﬁed the religion and a re-established it. If no emendation were to be made, however, the passage as it stands would make little sense: If Kai Bahr¯m had already established the religion of Zoroaster so that “none can be a found [that adhere to] any [other] creed,” then why was it necessary for Pash¯tan to come once u again? Moreover, what temple did Pash¯tan destroy which was the abode of their secrets, and why u was he obliged to establish in its place the ﬁre of Bahr¯m, once again? a 2379 Czegledy 1958, p. 39. Emphasis added 2380 Czegledy 1958, p. 39. There is no doubt that Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ considered himself the S¯ a u ın o shyant or messiah. The “Soashyant is thought of as being accompanied, like kings and heroes, by Khvarenah [Divine Grace], and it is in Yasht 19 [Zamy¯d Yasht] that the extant Avesta has most to a tell of him. Khvarenah, . . . will accompany the victorious Soashyant . . . so that he may restore existence . . . he will drive the Drug [Falsehood] out from the world of Asha [Righteousness].” The farr (Khvarenah), therefore, is here bestowed upon Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ by the yazata to whose safea u ın keeping it has been given in the absence of a ruler ﬁt to rule, namely the yazata Mihr. Zamyad Yasht 1883, §§89, 92, 93; Boyce 1979, p. 42, also pp. 74–75.

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS The motif of revenge There is one ﬁnal element of the millennial dimension of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın’s rebellion that is signiﬁcant for our purposes: the motif of revenge. Recall that in the midst of his rebellion, when the Ispahbudh¯n brothers had ﬁrst blinded a Hormozd IV and then had him killed,2381 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ justiﬁed the cona u ın tinuation of his revolt on the basis of revenge for the murdered king.2382 This comes from a source, namely D¯ ınawar¯ who clearly had access to the posiı, tive, popular renditions of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion as articulated in the a u ın’s epic romance Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯n N¯ma.2383 The motif of revenge in Bahr¯ma u ı a a i Ch¯b¯ narrative connects it to the legends of Man¯chihr and Afr¯s¯ ab. u ın’s u a ıy¯ In order to explicate this, we might begin with Tord Olsson’s analysis of the genre of apocalypse. According to Olsson, a key criterion of apocalypticism is its phenomenological parallel in other cultures.2384 An apocalyptic movement entails “a certain method of interpreting reality with reference to a cultural heritage . . . [Thus,] the revitalization of mythic material and its reinterpretation with reference to the contemporaneous situation is a recurrent feature in these movements.”2385 On a more universal level, Olsson argues, apocalyptic activity bespeaks of the belief “in the possibility of the communication between man and the supramundane world, i.e., that divine secrets or plans relative to the mundane world in the present, past or future, can be revealed to human recipients . . . [Moreover,] these revelatory worldviews are regularly actualized in situations of conﬂict or crisis, real or imagined, or in the context of the fear of such situations, . . . [when] the social organization, including access to central power, has been affected by a decrease in intra-system communication so that the cultural integrity of a certain group is jeopardized.”2386 The apocalyptic activity within such a group then forces the group to “codify or restore their cultural identities or traditional value systems in opposition to rival communities or groups through revelatory systems of ideas.”2387 In the Iranian apocalyptic literature, including the J¯m¯sp N¯mak, the “legendary motifs are thus actualized, and reinterpreted, a a a often in political terms with reference to the contemporaneous situation or confused with the accounts of recent conﬂicts with the Arabs and other peoples . . . the apocalypses and legends thus deal with the fundamentals of Iranian civilization, culture and religion.”2388 Olsson observes subsequently that in the
2381 See

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p. 97. Arthur, Les gestes des rois dans les traditions de l’Iran antique, Paris, 1936 (Christensen 1936), p. 59; Shahbazi 2007a. 2384 Olsson, Tord, ‘The Apocalyptic Activity: The Case of J¯m¯sp N¯mag’, in David Hellholm a a a and J.C.B. Mohr (eds.), Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East, pp. 21–59, Tübingen, 1983 (Olsson 1983), p. 28. 2385 Olsson 1983, p. 29. Emphasis added. 2386 Olsson 1983, pp. 30–31. Emphasis added. 2387 Olsson 1983, p. 31. Emphasis mine. 2388 Olsson 1983, pp. 31–32. Emphasis mine.
2383 Christensen,

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2382 D¯ ınawar¯ 1967, ı

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§6.2: A BBASID REVOLUTION C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

J¯m¯sp N¯mak, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ legend incorporates the “traits of the old a a a a u ın’s legend about the conﬂict between Man¯šˇihr and Fr¯sy¯p [Afr¯s¯y¯b].”2389 uc a a aı a In the Iranian national epic, the ferocious feud between the Iranians and the T¯r¯nians, we recall, began with the reign of the mythic king, Man¯chihr, who ua u was the ﬁrst to have to reckon with a powerful enemy king.2390 We also recall Man¯chihr’s connection with Tabarist¯n,2391 where he was born on Mount u a . Manush in the Alburz, and where he took refuge during his struggle with the T¯r¯nian Afr¯s¯ ab.2392 By far, however, the chief achievement of Man¯chihr ua a ıy¯ u in the Iranian national tradition was his role as the avenger of the death of the favorite son of Fereyd¯n, Iraj, who was murdered by his brothers.2393 In our u subsequent discussion of the religious revolts that transpire in the quarters of the east and the north from the mid-eighth century onward, therefore, besides the currents of Mithraism prevalent in these region, and besides all the motifs, similarly Mithraic, that are imbued within the apocalyptic accounts of Bahr¯m-i a Ch¯b¯ rebellion, we have to keep in mind the relevance of the old legend of u ın’s Man¯chihr and Afr¯s¯ ab, and especially the crucial theme of revenge therein. u a ıy¯ Before we get to these, however, we must brieﬂy discuss an episode of early Islamic history, the cultural and geographical provenance of which fall outside the purview of this study, namely the Abb¯sid revolution. It is precisely in ora der to underline the extraneous characteristic of this revolution to the concerns of this study, that we must do this.2394

6.2

The Abb¯sid revolution a

In 129 AH/746–747 CE, an obscure ﬁgure, carrying the enigmatic name of father of the Muslims, Ab¯ Muslim al-Khur¯s¯n¯ (or al-Marwaz¯ or al-Isfah¯n¯ is u aa ı ı . a ı), said to have received instructions from an Im¯m, Ibr¯h¯ b. Muhammad, to a a ım . launch a call (da w¯) on behalf of an acceptable member of the family of the a Prophet (al-rid¯ min ¯l-i Muhammad) in the far-eastern corners of the former a . .a Sasanian domains and on the edges of the land of the Pahlav.2395 Donning black garments and raising a black standard in the village of Sef¯ ıdanj in Marv, Ab¯ u Muslim instructed his followers to do the same and, lighting a ﬁre, signaled the inauguration of a revolution, not just any revolution, but, as the motto of the rebellion indicated, an Islamic revolution. About twelve centuries later, in the
2389 Olsson

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p. 435. 2391 See page 375ff. 2392 Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 119. ı 2393 Yarshater 1983b, p. 434. 2394 A full analysis of the relevance of Abb¯sid revolution to the issues discussed in this study must a be postponed to the author’s forthcoming work. Here we shall only provide a short synopsis. 2395 Crone, Patricia, ‘On the Meaning of the Abb¯sid Call to al-Rid¯’, in C.E. Bosworth (ed.), The a .a Islamic World from Classical to Modern Times, pp. 95–111, Princeton, 1989 (Crone 1989). For a synopsis of Ab¯ Muslim’s story by Ibn Isfand¯ ar, see footnote 1812. u ıy¯

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2390 As

1983, p. 39. Yarshater notes, there seems to be a certain primacy about Man¯chihr. Yarshater 1983b, u

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.2: A BBASID REVOLUTION

heat of the nineteenth century racialist theories smothering the west, and with romanticized obsessions about revolutions percolating in the minds of European orientalists,2396 gazes were turned to this fascinating episode of the history of the Orient, the Abb¯sid revolution. A long history of erudite scholarship a was then precipitated, addressing an equally long list of crucial questions, some of which remain unsettled to this day: who was this obscure ﬁgure who galvanized the East into launching a revolution? Whence his ethnic origins? Was he an Arab or an Iranian moving the oppressed Iranian maw¯l¯2397 against the yoke aı of their oppressors? Was this an Arab, Iranian, Abb¯sid or Sh¯ ite revolution? a ı Above all, however, one question was raised: why did the revolution take place in the far eastern corners of Iran, in Khur¯s¯n, of all places? And so, in spite of aa solitary voices later raised in objection,2398 the gaze of scholarship was ﬁxated on this northeastern corner of Iran, the frontier region of Khur¯s¯n, where the aa enigmatic Ab¯ Muslim had launched a revolt almost a millennium and a half u earlier. An overview of the state of the ﬁeld of this research is in fact quite pertinent to our concerns, and should have ideally appeared here.2399 But the evidence that we would have to bring in order to ﬁll what we perceive to be one of the most crucial lacunae in the ﬁeld, is too multifaceted, and so considerations of space preclude their inclusion here.2400 In order to contextualize our perspective on the Abb¯sid revolution in reference to the thesis presented in this study, a however, a few words need to be said. Partly as result of its scholarly heritage, contemporary scholarship on the Abb¯sid revolution continues to remain contentious. Precisely because of this, a while numerous monographs have attempted to elucidate the socioeconomic, religious, and political dimensions of the revolution, one of the most crucial issues concerning this presumed watershed of early Islamic history has been neglected, namely an investigation into the natural environment in which it unfolded. Except for brief and often artiﬁcial asides that have sought to explain the suitability of Khur¯s¯n as a frontier society for Arab mass migration—the aa latter being a conditio sine qua non for the revolution—no systematic study of the relationship between the natural environment of the region and its social
2396 Scholars such as Van Vloten and Wellhausen, to whom, needless to say, we owe a serious debt for the corpus of scholarship they produced on this and a host of other aspects of the history of the region. 2397 Crone, Patricia, ‘Mawl¯’, in P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W.P. a Heinrichs (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam, pp. 874–882, Leiden, 2007 (Crone 2007). 2398 Lassner, Jacob, The Shaping of Abb¯sid Rule, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1980 (Lassa ner 1980). 2399 The literature on the topic is vast. For an in-depth analysis of the state of the ﬁeld until a decade ago, see Humphreys 1991, p. 104; Pourshariati 1995. For an update, see Daniel, Elton, ‘Arabs, Persians, and the Advent of the Abbasids Reconsidered’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 117, (1997), pp. 542–548 (Daniel 1997), p. 542. 2400 These will be hopefully brought together in a sequel to the present work in the near future. For the time being, the reader is referred to Pourshariati 1995, Ch. II and III, as well as Pourshariati 1998, pp. 41–81.

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environment has ever been attempted. Examining the scholarship on the topic, one might very well presume that the Abb¯sid da w¯ exploded on a blank tera a rain and the Abb¯sid du ¯t acted on an expansive but empty stage. Khur¯s¯n as a a aa a geographical entity remains a more or less abstract territorial domain in this scholarship. This abstract conceptualization of the land as a frontier society has also precluded any systematic investigation into the diverse socioeconomic infrastructure of the various parts of this extensive territory and the suitability of each of these to an inﬂux of a substantial population. The notion of a mass migration of the Arab population into the region, embedded within which is the question of the numbers of these Arab migrants, has likewise either been accepted a priori, based on nineteenth century research, or has simply been taken for granted.2401 The question of the pattern of Arab settlement in the region, a question that has hitherto formed the premise of all subsequent studies of the Abb¯sid revolution, and a viable indicator for potentially re-assessing a the popularity of the revolution, has likewise attracted very little attention.2402 Above all, with one notable exception,2403 no systematic study of one of the most crucial issues of early Islamic history in general, and the Abb¯sid revoa lution in particular, namely the issue of conversion, has ever been undertaken in the ﬁeld.2404 Whether one agrees with Bulliet’s thesis or his methodology, his conclusions on conversion remain the only plausible working hypothesis to date and as such must be reckoned with: not until the period between the 790s and the 860s did a substantial population of Iranians convert.2405 All the outstanding questions related above are closely interconnected and require a brief reconsideration of the topographical and geographical characteristics of
2401 The question of the numerical strength of this foreign population is of course crucial to any investigation of the topic. In the past decade two dissertations, by Agha and by the author, independently came to the conclusion that the Wellhausanian assessment of the numerical strength of this migration into the region has been exaggerated. Having argued this, the two authors, however, reached different conclusions about the nature of the Abb¯sid revolution. See Agha, Saleh Said, a The Agents and Forces that Toppled the Umayyad Caliphate, Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto, 1993 (Agha 1993), subsequently published as Agha, Saleh Said, The Revolution which Toppled the Umayyads: Neither Arab nor Abb¯sid, Leiden, 2003 (Agha 2003); and Pourshariati 1995. a 2402 See Pourshariati 1998, pp. 41–81. 2403 Bulliet 1979. 2404 The title of Dennett, Daniel C., Conversion and the Poll Tax in Early Islam, Harvard University Press, 1950 (Dennett 1950), is a misnomer, for in this book, an examination of the issue of conversion is not undertaken but simply asserted as a matter of fact. This is also the case with the latest work on the topic, Agha 2003. For an overview of the state of the ﬁeld on the issue of conversion, see Humphreys 1991, pp. 273–283, where he maintains that in spite of the fact that “conversion to Islam was . . . a massive process . . . it remains one of the most poorly examined ﬁelds in Islamic studies.” Ibid., p. 274. Emphasis mine. 2405 Bulliet 1979. A caveat to Bulliet’s methodology must be mentioned, nonetheless: while conversion entailed a rural–urban migration according to Bulliet, and hence also affected the rural population, his evidence has, per force, been culled from urban literary products and therefore explicates more the urban transformations than the rural conditions. For the majority of the agrarian population of Iran, therefore, we have yet to devise a methodology that addresses the issue of their conversion. See also footnote 2432.

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Khur¯s¯n as a frontier region, relegating a more in-depth study of the topic to aa the future. 6.2.1 Inner–Outer Khur¯s¯n aa

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2406 “Historical events must be understood in their proper physical setting lest one commits blunders in understanding the course of those events.” Morony 1984, p. 589. 2407 I owe this terminology to my former advisor, Richard Bulliet. 2408 See, among others, Curzon, George N., Persia and the Persian Question, London, 1892 (Curzon 1892), pp. 142–143.

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The Khur¯s¯n that we readily deﬁne as a frontier region suitable for mass miaa gration of the Arabs in the wake of the conquests was a vast region. Not all of the varied regions subsumed within this extensive territory had the potential to absorb a serious inﬂux of a foreign population. The relationship between the natural environment of a region to its human population, furthermore, is one of the basic criteria that affect, over time, its evolving social relations. A detailed investigation of the geographical and topographical characteristics of the extensive Khur¯s¯nid territory, therefore, ought to form the very ﬁrst direction aa of our research, lest, as Morony puts it, we commit blunders in our subsequent assessment of the history of the region.2406 Once such an investigation is undertaken, it becomes apparent that one of the most fruitful ways of conceptualizing the geographical, topographical, and hence social-structural characteristics of Khur¯s¯n in the late antique period, aa is to follow its natural demarcations and conceive of the land as two distinct territories: Inner and Outer Khur¯s¯n.2407 An extensive series of impassible aa mountains, the Greater and Lesser B¯lkh¯n, Kürendagh, Kopet D¯gh, and B¯ a a a ın¯l¯d, running in a diagonal axis from northwest to southeast, divide Greater au Khur¯s¯n naturally into two regions: Inner Khur¯s¯n to the west of this baraa aa rier, and Outer Khur¯s¯n to its east. The extensive Khw¯razm desert, lying aa a immediately to the north and east of these mountains, provides yet another major divide between these region. As nineteen century travelers have reiterated again and again,2408 the paucity of passes and corridors through this barrier effectively hampers communication between the two regions. When we habitually promote the conception of Khur¯s¯n as a frontier society, and when we aa readily argue that by virtue of this, the region was ideal for the purposes of Arab migration and settlement, it behooves us to specify to which part of this extensive region we are referring: the truly frontier cities of Marv, Sarakhs, Nis¯, and Ab¯ a ıvard in Outer Khur¯s¯n, or do we have N¯ ap¯r, Tus, Q¯mis, aa ısh¯ u . ¯ u B¯kharz, and Khw¯f in Inner Khur¯s¯n in mind? As mentioned, a detailed ina a aa vestigation of this crucial and contextual dimension of the Abb¯sid revolution a and the natural environment in which it unfurled will be undertaken in a later study. For now it should be noted that the proposal for viewing Khur¯s¯n in aa the post-conquest century as having an inward and an outward orientation is not meant as a pedantic exercise in providing alternative terminologies. This

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geographical delimitation offers a more accurate way of investigating the sociopolitical and cultural inclinations and developments of the two regions during the post-conquest period. The socioeconomic and political forces operating in Outer Khur¯s¯n as well as Central Asia were quite distinct from those affectaa ing the Iranian plateau. As we will be arguing elsewhere, the socioeconomic forces, structures and conditions, and the ideological dynamics that precipitated and sustained the Abb¯sid revolution were alien to the Iranian plateau, a including the Inner Khur¯s¯n regions.2409 A close reassessment of the concluaa sions reached by scholarship based on this new geographical conceptualization of Khur¯s¯n underlines a crucial fact: the geographical spread of the Abb¯sid aa a revolution was not in the vast expanse of the Khur¯s¯nid territory, as has been aa thus far cavalierly maintained, but speciﬁcally in Outer Khur¯s¯n and Transoxiaa ana. It is perhaps no exaggeration to maintain that the frontier cities of Nis¯, a Ab¯ ıvard, Sarakhs, and Marv set aside, the Abb¯sid revolution was more of a a Central Asian phenomenon than a strictly speaking Khur¯s¯nid one, precisely aa because the popular base of the revolution followed the pattern of Arab settlement within these regions. The natural environment and the socioeconomic infrastructure operative in Central Asia during the late antique period, can be more readily compared to the western regions of Iran and Mesopotamia than to the Pahlav lands investigated in this study, as Richard Frye already pointed out. While he aptly makes a distinction between what he terms western and eastern Iranian lands, however, he continues to conceptualize a Khur¯s¯n that was unaa differentiated in its geographical and topographical environment.2410 What is missing in Frye’s appropriate distinction between eastern and western Iran, is a further ﬁne-tuning of his conceptualization of the eastern Iranian lands: All of Khur¯s¯n, together with Central Asia, is included in his deﬁnition of the east. aa A distinction, however, ought to be made. For the series of mountains that divide Khur¯s¯n into Inner Khur¯s¯n and Outer Khur¯s¯n, also make a division aa aa aa in the infrastructural, social, and economic forces within these regions. As Frye himself underlines, the infrastructure of Central Asia, like western Iran, was marked by a relatively much higher degree of urbanization than the quarters of the east and the north. “It should be noted,” Frye remarks, “that whereas in Sasanian Iran the landed aristocracy, the priests, scribes and common folk comprised the four traditional classes or casts, in Transoxiana the society seems

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2410 Frye

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Pourshariati 1998, pp. 43–44. is also the ﬁrst to point out that the local histories of Iran provide evidence of the Arab– Iranian relationship at the time of the Arab conquest of their territories: “I have reported on one of these . . . and have heard of others.” These documents, he further maintains, give us evidence that “the Arab conquests loomed very large in the minds of the the people, at least in later times when the histories were written.” He even acknowledges that “most small towns and villages in Iran and Central Asia were relatively untouched by Islam in the Umayyad period, and their populations were converted only several centuries or more after the Arab conquests.” Frye 1975a, p. 94. Emphasis added. The author subsequently published her Pourshariati 1998, and had she undertaken a rereading of the relevant parts of Frye, she would have acknowledged that Frye had already pointed the way.

2409 See

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to have been divided between the landed aristocracy . . . the merchants . . . and the ordinary folk.”2411 While these social divisions might have been more an idealized depiction, they nevertheless do underline a signiﬁcant distinction between the Pahlav domains on the one hand, and the Central Asian and Outer Khur¯s¯nid society on the other. Frye’s remarks are germane to any investigaaa tion of the numerical strength, pattern, and consequence of the Arab settlement in the east, and, therefore, ought to direct the focus of our gaze in deciphering the milieu of the Abb¯sid revolution. For as he underlines, a crucial dimension a of the economic infrastructure of Central Asia was “the more important position of the merchant in Central Asia . . . as compared with Iran correspond[ing] to the more signiﬁcant role which he played in the society of small Central Asian states, a society which was based on trade.”2412 Compared to the predominantly agricultural2413 economic infrastructure normative for the Pahlav territories, we seriously question whether a similar agnatic social structure and the multifarious checks and balances ensuring its cohesion, operated in the urban centers of Outer Khur¯s¯n and Central Asia. aa The comparatively much more diverse linguistic and religious landscape operative in the Outer Khur¯s¯nid and Central Asian societies needs to be taken aa into account as well. As Frye warns us, for example, when examining the linguistic landscape of this part of the east, “one must be careful in interpreting the word Persian in the sources, because it could be used for Sogdian, Khwarzamian, or another Iranian language.”2414 Likewise, the religious landscape of Transoxiana was, comparatively, much more diverse. Buddhism, Manicheism, Nestorian Christianity and local Zoroastrianism, not to mention small colonies of Jews and Hindus, were all part of the picture in Central Asia.2415 As far as the Iranian religions of Central Asia and Outer Khur¯s¯n are concerned, furtheraa more, we do not know to what extent a conservative agnatic social structure sustained the religious life of these communities. As we have argued in a previous study,2416 on some fundamental level, the conditions that precipitated the eruption of the Abb¯sid revolution—whatever a the nature of this latter—had very little to do with the regions under investigation in the present study, the land of the Pahlav, the former quarters of the north and the east of the Sasanian domain, of which Inner Khur¯s¯n was an aa
1975a, p. 94. Emphasis added. enormous number of wall paintings in Panjikant . . . indicates that no town based solely on the surrounding agriculture could have afforded such expensive decorations in so many houses, or would have been interested in such luxuries.” Frye 1975a, p. 99. Emphasis added. 2413 We do acknowledge, needless to say, that even the trade economy of Central Asia was ultimately agriculturally sustained. 2414 In contrast, he maintains, when “it is recorded . . . that Arabs or non-Arab Muslims spoke Persian, one should accept this as it stands. For Persian or Dari, the Persian spoken at the Sasanian court by the bureaucracy, undoubtedly continued to be a lingua franca in the eastern part of the Iranian world, and with the Arab conquest in Central Asia, this tongue, Dari, became even more widespread in the east at the expense of local tongues such as Sogdian.” Frye 1975a, p. 99. 2415 Frye 1975a, p. 100. 2416 Pourshariati 1998.
2412 “The 2411 Frye

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integral part. For, except for numerically very small communities of Arabs in these lands, the Arabo-Islamic presence in these regions was practically nonexistent, at least late into the Umayyad period. As Tabar¯ maintained and as the ı . consensus of the scholarship reﬂects, therefore, not much had changed with the conquest of the regions in the period 640–650 and this remained the case throughout the Umayyad period. The concerns and the platforms of the Abb¯a sid revolution were alien to the ruling and ruled population of these predominantly Pahlav regions.2417 Contemporaneous with the Abb¯sid revolution, and a for close to a century subsequent to it, however, substantial upheavals did in fact take place in the Pahlav regions. There are grounds, therefore, for us to relegate a more detailed investigation of the Abb¯sid revolution to a future study. For a as we shall presently see, the concerns of the latter had very little to do with the issues that were simmering in the Pahlav lands and the revolutions that were launched there. 6.2.2 Post-conquest Iran and contemporary scholarship

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2417 The case of Gurg¯n, and the presumed support there for the Abb¯sids can also be explained. a a We intend to deal with this in our forthcoming work. 2418 While much has been written about the inﬂuence of the Judeo-Christian tradition in contradistinction to which the Arabo-Islamic identity was gradually forming, little attention has been paid to the fact that one of the most readily available models of an ethnic community infused with a religious identity was the Iranian model. Among the few scholarly works noting this is Cook and Crone 1977.

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Ever since the nineteenth century, scholarly obsession with the Abb¯sid revoa lution has pre-empted any serious investigation into the socioreligious history of the rest of Iran in the post-conquest period. A number of signiﬁcant studies in this direction set aside for the moment, the information that one has culled for the post-conquest history of Iran about the social and cultural forces operating in the region has been conﬁned, for the most part, to the political history of various provinces of Iran under the Umayyads. To a large extent this state of research reﬂects the Arabist predisposition of the ﬁeld. The nature of the sources at our disposal, however, has also seriously exacerbated the situation. The interruption of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition at the end of the Sasanian history, a a juxtaposed next to the fut¯h narratives—all contained within the Islamic histou. riographical tradition—has created a false dichotomy. This artiﬁcial creation of the conquests as a watershed in Iranian history, precipitated by the discontinuity in our sources, has undermined our appreciation of the tremendous degree of social continuity characterizing the post-conquest period of Iran. In its ﬁnal form, produced three centuries after the events, Islamic historiography was above all a self-conscious attempt at the creation of an Islamic religio-political community. An awareness of the emergence of the ethniconic community of the Arabs, and the centrality of this community in the formation of the Islamic polity, were among the primary stimuli for the rise of this historiography.2418 This Arabo-Islamic bias of the sources has provided a convenient pretext in

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modern scholarship for neglecting the socioreligious history of Iran in the immediate post-conquest centuries. All are well aware that on the Iranian plateau alone a number of highly signiﬁcant revolts erupted simultaneous with, and shortly after, the Abb¯sid revolution. Yet, for all the preoccupation with the a Abb¯sid revolution, and the numerous monographs dealing with this episode a of late antique history of Iran, except for a few signiﬁcant works with which we shall be dealing shortly, modern scholarship has mostly neglected these revolts. The Arabo-Islamist bias of the ﬁeld in this regard is clear and one need not make apologies for underlining it.2419 One of the pioneering attempts at highlighting the artiﬁcial and abrupt change of focus in our sources, resulting in a skewed image of the post-conquest history of Iran, was made by Gholam Hossein Sadighi. In his classic account of Iranian religious movements of the second and third Islamic centuries,2420 Sadighi underlines the partiality of the sources at our disposal. As we have no sources written in Persian in the ﬁrst three centuries of the Muslim era, we are forced to rely primarily on classical Arabic sources. These sources, however, Sadighi continues, leave many questions pertaining to the Iranian religious scene in the post-conquest period unanswered. The lives of the prophets and leaders of these religious movements remain little known, as do the intellectual, religious, moral, economic, and administrative inclinations and practices of the Iranian population during this period. The “natural antipathy of some of these [classical] authors for the enemies of Islam complicates the task of those” seeking answers.2421 This situation is exacerbated by the fact that the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) sources that might have shed more light on the socioreligious history of Iran during the late Sasanian and post-conquest centuries, were composed during the ninth and tenth centuries—that is to say, around the same period in which the Islamic historical corpus was developed2422 —under the patronage of a by then solidiﬁed Mazdean orthodoxy. As Shaked explains, these Middle Persian sources “present a one-sided view of the situation in the Sasanian and early Islamic period. They reﬂect the attitude of an orthodoxy that may have crystallized toward the end of the Sasanian period . . . an orthodoxy that must have rejected
2419 As the late Mary Boyce has maintained, western scholarship has emphasized the supposed aridity of Zoroastrianism during the seventh century, giving the impression that “this ancient faith had become too mummiﬁed by ritual and formality that it needed only the thrust of a conquering sword to crumble into nothingness.” Such impressions, Boyce continues, “owe much . . . to the misconceptions engendered by the ultimate victory of Islam; and similar analyses of medieval Christianity would undoubtedly have been offered if Saracens and Turks had succeeded in subduing Europe.” Boyce 1979, p. 143. 2420 Sadighi 1938. 2421 Sadighi 1938, pp. 111–112. 2422 The fact that the composition of the Middle Persian sources dealing with the history of the Mazdean community, as well as the proliﬁc Sh¯hn¯ma production, were contemporaneous with a a the Islamic historical writing, is extremely signiﬁcant and bespeaks the simultaneous preoccupation of both communities with archaizing efforts toward self-deﬁnition.

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modes of belief that were unacceptable to it.”2423 Taking issue with the school of thought represented by Sadighi, moreover, Shaked argues that compared to the Middle Persian sources, the value of Islamic sources, composed mainly by authors of “Iranian origin, generally not farther removed from their Zoroastrian ancestry than one to four generations . . . [and living amidst] a lively and vigorous Zoroastrian community,” have been underrated. It is true, Shaked argues, that these sources betray the Muslim’s attitude toward non-Muslims. But precisely because they were not “bound by loyalty to an orthodoxy, they felt free to report views, beliefs, and practices without checking them against the standards of acceptability of a religious establishment.”2424 The variegated information they contain, moreover, is not only “the most important aspect of their contribution to the subject . . . ,” but also a testimony to the diverse religious scene during this period. Sadighi’s work remains to date one of the most elaborate attempts in drawing the contours of the religious history of Iran in the post-conquest centuries. Half a century after his work, however, the void was still felt. Amoretti observes, for example, that “[t]he religious evolution of Iran during the centuries from the Arab conquest to the rise of the Saljuqs was determined by a number of factors which, so far, have not been adequately isolated and analyzed.”2425 Since then, while a number of signiﬁcant studies have been made,2426 the issues raised by the revolts that erupted in the wake of the Abb¯sid take-over of the a caliphate, have not been revisited.2427 Sadighi highlights the crux of the problem when investigating the Iranian revolts of the second and third century hijra. Muslim authors, he argues, provide uneven treatment of the Iranian religiocultural tradition. As a result, scholars have been led to believe that the Iranians were so troubled at having lost their independence to the Arab conquerers that they no longer had the quietude to occupy themselves with matters of faith.2428 One can in fact trace a high degree of continuity, Sadighi objects, between the religio-cultural traditions of the Sasanians and those prevalent in Iran during the late Umayyad and early Abb¯sid periods. As late as the mid-eighth century— a the period under investigation in this chapter—a substantial number of Iranians had yet to abandon their national cult, for traces of Iranian religions and the persistence of their ceremonies and practices can be found everywhere.2429 A corollary to these misconceptions about the continuity of Iranian religious traditions is an overestimation of the doctrinal and institutional solidity of Islam and the effect of this on conquered populations. Just as there has been

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1994b, p. 43. Emphasis added. 1994b, p. 43. 2425 Amoretti, B.S., ‘Sects and Heresies’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3, p. 481, Cambridge University Press, 1983 (Amoretti 1983). 2426 To name a few: Bausani 2000; Madelung 1985; Madelung 1988; Madelung 1992; Shaked 1995. 2427 The few exceptions will be noted as we proceed. 2428 Sadighi 1938, p. 111. 2429 Sadighi 1938, p. 111.
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2423 Shaked

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a tendency to underestimate the continuity of Iranian religio-cultural traditions in the post-conquest period, so too there has been a corresponding inclination to overestimate the effect of Arab rule and the advent of Islam on the newly conquered territories. One need not adhere to the Wansbroughanian thesis,2430 or the schools of thought following him, in order to make this claim, although the implications of this thesis for the post-conquest history of Iran and especially the process of conversion are tremendous.2431 The fallacies of presuming an ideologically cohesive religion appearing as Islam during this period has also been pointed out by Bulliet: “When in the second half of the seventh century CE the Arabs conquered the Persian empire . . . they did not bring with them the religion that is described in general books on Islam. They brought with them something far more primitive and undeveloped, a mere germ of later developments . . . [T]he society of . . . [the] conquered lands was certainly not an Islamic one to begin with . . . [The] Muslims in these lands . . . at ﬁrst represented one small element, albeit the ruling element, within a territory that was dominated numerically by adherents of other religions.”2432 Bulliet observes furthermore that “[a]s long as the Muslim population remained a minority or constituted only a bare majority of the entire population of a region, the society of that region as a whole was not an Islamic society, nor the culture of that region an Islamic culture.”2433 The present work is not a study in change, but an investigation into the continuity of Iranian sociopolitical and religious tradition. It is therefore only indirectly concerned with the issue of conversion. In order to investigate the socioreligious currents that informed the revolts galvanizing Iran from the middle
2430 Wansbrough, John, Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation, Oxford University Press, 1977 (Wansbrough 1977). 2431 As has been observed previously, the conclusions reached by the revisionist school of thought about the Islamic narrative of origin, and by extension its historiographical corpus, are by no means monolithic. 2432 Bulliet 1979, pp. 1–2. In this context, it has been argued that the many rites and obligations which bound the Zoroastrians to their own priests from cradle to grave, might have found in the “new religion which had yet to create its own hard shell of scholastic dogmatism, and so laid few restraints on independent thought,” a respite from the ancestral religion. It might equally be true that “women, too, though in the long run losers under Islam, experienced an immediate beneﬁt on conversion through freedom from those laws of purity which pressed so heavily on them in their daily lives.” Boyce 1979, p. 149. Yet, as Boyce herself argues, the Iranian masses were little concerned with scholastic matters and “their religious lives, though devout and instructed up to a point, were lived more simply.” As far as the actual role and power of women from various strata of the Sasanian society are concerned, furthermore, we know very little of how their lives were led. Moreover, an overriding consideration in any examination of the issue of conversion should be an acute awareness of the ethnic dimension of any variety of Iranian religion. As Boyce underlines, the ancient notion that conversion to a non-Iranian religion, in this case Islam, meant in reality becoming a non-Iranian (an¯r), a damning indictment, formed a potent hindrance to conversion. e Ibid., p. 151. The narrative of the history of three generations of the families of a convert, D¯ ar, ın¯ the issues confronting early converts and the problems they faced in the community from which they apostatized are successfully followed in Bulliet, Richard W., Islam: The View from the Edge, Columbia University Press, 1995 (Bulliet 1995), pp. 44–66. 2433 Bulliet 1979, p. 2.

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2434 Amoretti

1983, p. 481. 1979, p. 677, n. 7. Emphasis mine. 2436 See §3.4.6, especially page 264. 2437 See §4.1.2, especially page 291.
2435 Widengren

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of the eighth century to the end of the ﬁrst quarter of the ninth, therefore, we shall start with an observation that is particularly pertinent to our concerns. In his study on Iranian sects and heresies, Amoretti observes that “by concentrating on one area or province, one can attain a more realistic, although possibly still universal vision, which is important for a number of interrelations between the various areas or provinces, and above all take into account whatever each area more or less consciously chose to preserve, in a national sense as one might say today, out of the supranational whole of aims and interests which the caliphate’s Islamic ideology expressed in different occasions and forms, within the territorial boundaries of the caliphate.”2434 Amoretti’s point of reference was the Iranian plateau as a whole. Our prism in what follows will be the religio-political revolts that transpired from the mid-eighth to the ﬁrst quarter of the ninth century in the quarters of the north and the east, that is, the regions that remained under Parthian control at least during the ﬁrst postconquest century. Having limited our study to these regions, therefore, we shall also conﬁne our conclusions as being pertinent to these same regions. One can argue that the seminal work of Sadighi has already addressed the topic under investigation. There are two serious shortcomings in Sadighi’s work, however, that the present work hopes to address. Firstly, as Widengren perceptively observes, “this meritorious work has not succeeded in establishing a historical connection between Sasanian and post-Sasanian times and must be supplemented in this regard.”2435 Viewing the religious revolts that transpired in the quarters of the east and the north up to the middle of the eight century in the context of the history of these regions during the Sasanian period, as discussed amply in the previous chapters, will therefore provide a far clearer picture of precisely how the histories of these regions continued in the post-conquest period. Secondly, while highlighting the heterodox dimension of some of the revolts which he investigated, Sadighi did not properly contextualize the provenance of these revolts, partly because he did not address the Sasanian religious landscape in his work. What then can we add to the picture drawn by Sadighi? The histories of the quarters of the north and the east connect, in a very direct manner, from the late ﬁfth century to the mid-seventh, when agreements between the Arabs and Farrukhz¯d, the son of the Prince of the Medes, also a known as Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n2436 or B¯v,2437 and his allies J¯ J¯ ansh¯h ınab¯ u a a ıl-i ıl¯ a and the various sp¯hbeds, were effected. The families around whom the accounts a of the conquest revolved were not only families having a long heritage in these territories, but also families who continued to the rule in these regions after the conquest: the Parthian Ispahbudh¯n, K¯rins, Mihr¯ns, and Kan¯rang¯ an, as a a a a ıy¯ ¯ well as the Sasanian Al-i J¯m¯sp. For almost a century after the conquest, with a a

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the exception of the Mihr¯ns, not much had changed in the quarter of the north. a In the truncated quarter of the east, what we termed Inner Khur¯s¯n, likewise, aa very little changed prior to the actual eruption of the Abb¯sid revolution. a Contemporary with the Abb¯sid revolution and for almost a century afa terwards, however, a signiﬁcant number of popular revolts in Iran and Central Asia shook the nascent Abb¯sid regime, forcing it to expend substantial a manpower, resources and money to quell these. While these revolts might have shared a number of characteristics, the examination of all under the same rubric is unwarranted. Madelung’s contention, moreover, that all of these revolts “overtly mixed Persian and Islamic religious beliefs and motives,”2438 under the the generic name of Khurramiya, needs to be reassessed, for this assessment clearly contradicts his assertion that these were anti-Arab and anti-Muslim activities which “reached [their] climax in the great rebellion [of B¯bak]”.2439 a The Sh¯ ite heresiographies and other classical Islamic texts that identify the ı Khurramiya “with the Muslimiya, who considered Ab¯ Muslim as their Im¯m, u a prophet or an incarnation of the divine spirit,”2440 need to be approached with caution and with the understanding that these were in fact later texts that superimposed the conditions of their times onto the presumed origins of these revolts. As Madelung himself observes, the “reports of the Muslim sources about the doctrine and practices of the Khurramiya are mostly summary and biased.”2441 Against Agha’s contention, moreover, that “preceding and succeeding Ab¯ Muslim and his followers, the almost uninterrupted string of Irau nian rebels, apostates-heretics and heresies [such as Riz¯m b. S¯biq, Ibn Ish¯q a a .a al-Turk, Bar¯z, and al-Muqanna ] came straight from the ranks of Ab¯ Musa u lim,”2442 we must note that all but two of these revolts originated in Central Asia. The two exceptions mentioned by Agha are Khidash and Sunb¯d.2443 As a for Khidash, the one thing that we are certain about is that we are not certain about anything, except that, according to both Tabar¯ and Bal¯dhur¯ he began ı a ı, . straying away from the H¯shimiya political propaganda espoused by the Ab¯ a u Muslimites, and according to Bal¯dhur¯ he began teaching the doctrines of the a ı, Khurramiya.2444 The sources even suggest that Khidash was preaching some version of Khurramiya doctrine, and it was probably precisely because of this a that he was shunned by the Abb¯sid Im¯m.2445 Accounts of Sunb¯d’s rebellion, a a
2438 Madelung, Wilferd, ‘Mazdakism and the Khurramiyya’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Religious Trends in Early Islamic Iran, Albany, 1998 (Madelung 1998), pp. 1–2. 2439 Madelung, Wilferd, ‘Khurramiyya’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, Albany, 2007b (Madelung 2007b). 2440 Madelung 2007b. 2441 Madelung 2007b. Madelung notes that this does not apply to the works of the tenth century ı, geographer Maqdis¯ which are “based on his personal acquaintance with members of the sect and his reading of some of their books.” Maqdis¯ however, was also a tenth-century author. ı, 2442 Agha 2003, p. 215. 2443 For Sunb¯d’s revolt, see §6.4 below. a 2444 Sharon, M., Black Banners from the East: the Establishment of the Abb¯sid State – Incubation of a a Revolt, Leiden, 1983 (Sharon 1983), p. 167. 2445 Crone, Patricia, ‘Review of Sharon’s Black Banners’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and

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on the other hand, follow the thematic motifs of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion a u ın’s to such an extent, that we will argue that the theme of revenge for Ab¯ Muslim u was a later topos incorporated into the narrative of his rebellion. Therefore, generalizations that do not take the regional variations of these revolts into account are unwarranted. Considering this, we shall conﬁne our investigation to two major revolts that transpired in the quarters of the east and north of the former Sasanian domains, namely those of Bih¯far¯ M¯hfarvard¯ in 129–131 a ıd a ın AH /747–749 CE ,2446 and of Sunb¯d, the ispahbud p¯r¯z, in 137 AH /755 CE .2447 a ıu Our sources, inadequate and biased as they may be, nonetheless portray both revolts as extremely popular uprisings. A simple onomastic glimpse at the name of their leaders underlines their Iranian ethnicon and religion.2448 Both revolts, moreover, appear to be driven not by an orthodox, elitist Mazdean ideology, but by strong currents of popular Mithraic religiosity. As such, they provide evidence of continuity of the religious currents prevalent in these regions during the Sasanian period. Finally, whether or not they sought to end Arab rule, both revolts had strong political implications for the consolidating Abb¯sid regime. We shall begin by addressing the revolt launched by Bih¯far¯ a a ıd M¯hfarvard¯ when the Abb¯sid proselyte Ab¯ Muslim was in the process of a ın, a u taking over the city of Marv, the umma ’l-qur¯ of the east, at the edge of the a quarter of the east, the territory designated in this study as Outer Khur¯s¯n. aa

6.3

Bih¯far¯ a ıd

When the young Ab¯ Muslim declared his call for al-rid¯ min ¯l-i Muhammad, u a .a . he was well aware of the stiff competition confronting him. Besides the octogenarian Umayyad governor of Khur¯s¯n, Nasr b. Sayy¯r, who still maintained aa a . de jure rule of the province, he also had to reckon with Juday b. Al¯ al-Kirm¯ı a a n¯ and al-H¯rith b. Surayj. The struggle that unfolded among these men on ı . the eve of the Abb¯sid revolution, whether sustained by a predominantly Arab a or Iranian constituency, originated in the vast regions of Outer Khur¯s¯n and aa Transoxiana, beyond the Iranian plateau.2449 With the conquest of Marv2450 and the ﬂight of Nasr b. Sayy¯r to N¯ ap¯r, Ab¯ Muslim thought his mission a ısh¯ u u .
African Studies 50, (1987), pp. 134–136, review of Sharon 1983 (Crone 1987), p. 136; Madelung, Wilferd, ‘Review of Sharon’s Black Banners’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 48, (1989), pp. 70–72, review of Sharon 1983 (Madelung 1989). 2446 See §6.3. 2447 See §6.4. 2448 Given the fact that conversion usually presumes a name change. 2449 This is an important issue that will be addressed in detail in the author’s sequel to this work. For now, the reader is referred to Pourshariati 1995 and Pourshariati 1998. Also see Ibn al-Ath¯ ır 1862, pp. 302–305. 2450 Tabar¯ The Abb¯sid Revolution: A.D. 743–750/A.H. 126–132, vol. XXVII of The History of ı, a . Tabar¯, Albany, 1985, translated and annotated by John Alden Williams (Tabar¯ 1985), p. 81, de ı ı . . Goeje, II, 1929. When al-H¯rith had conquered Balkh, J¯zj¯n¯n and Marv al-R¯d, he informed his u a a u .a companions that his next destination was Marv since “Marv is the main part of Khur¯s¯n, having aa the largest [number of] cavalrymen.” Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, p. 183. ır

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accomplished. Little did he know that another adversary, this time with a completely different ideological platform, was incubating a revolt in an unexpected corner of the vast Khur¯s¯n¯ territory: the region of N¯ ap¯r. Of this he was aa ı ısh¯ u informed by a curious assembly: the Zoroastrian high clergy of N¯ ap¯r. The ısh¯ u new rebel carried the symbolically signiﬁcant name Bih¯far¯ M¯hfarvard¯ 2451 a ıd a ın, not one of the typically Arab names which the Abb¯sid leader had encountered a among the supporters of his previous adversaries. His domain was the region of N¯ ap¯r, in Inner Khur¯s¯n, unfamiliar to Ab¯ Muslim and his colleagues. ısh¯ u aa u His audience, therefore, was not the predominantly Arab, Arabicized Persian, or Iranianized Arab, with which the Abb¯sid had been dealing. The man, a in other words, was somewhat of an oddity in Ab¯ Muslim’s familiar setting. u There is very little indication in the sources that there previously existed a relationship between Ab¯ Muslim and Bih¯far¯ M¯hfarvard¯ 2452 The eruption u a ıd a ın. of his rebellion and the threats inherent in it to both Islam and Mazdeism were relayed to Ab¯ Muslim by Bih¯far¯ staunchest enemies, the herbads and the u a ıd’s m¯bads, the Mazdean clergy. o B¯ un¯ provides one of the most complete accounts of Bih¯far¯ revolt.2453 ır¯ ı a ıd’s A native, most probably, of Z¯zan, in the northern reaches of the Q¯hist¯n u u a region to the south of the extensive region of N¯ ap¯r, Bih¯far¯ launched his ısh¯ u a ıd rebellion in S¯ awand, one of the districts of N¯ ap¯r in Khw¯f. Of the perır¯ ısh¯ u a sonal history of the rebel we know very little. According to B¯ un¯ prior to ır¯ ı, launching his rebellion, Bih¯far¯ had spent seven years in China, from where, a ıd among other Chinese curiosities, he had brought back a “green shirt, which, when folded up, could be held in the grasp of a man’s hand, so thin and ﬂexible it was.” Upon returning to his native region, Bih¯far¯ launched his rebellion. a ıd B¯ un¯ account of Bih¯far¯ rebellion clearly draws on popular stories in cirır¯ ı’s a ıd’s culation and therefore provides a unique window on its popular perception. As we shall see, the details of the preparation for his revolt are signiﬁcant. Bih¯far¯ is said to have gone up to a roof one day at night. Upon his descent a ıd from the structure, signiﬁcantly, in the early morning hours, the ﬁrst man to notice the rebel was a peasant ploughing his ﬁeld. It was to this peasant that the rebel, donned in the symbolically signiﬁcant green silk shirt, proclaimed the ﬁrst item of his doctrine: that he had ascended to the heavens, where he had seen Heaven and Hell, and, inspired by God, who had clothed him in green, he had

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2451 An extensive bibliography of primary sources on Bih¯far¯ can be found in Yusoﬁ, Ghoa ıd lam Husayn, ‘Beh¯far¯ in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007 (Yusoﬁ a ıd’, 2007), which also provides an excellent synopsis of Bih¯far¯ rebellion. The discussion that fola ıd’s lows will only concentrate on those aspects of his revolt which have hitherto gone unnoticed by scholarship. While we have consulted all of the primary and secondary literary sources on the rebel, we shall nonetheless refrain from citing them all. For these, the reader can consult Yusoﬁ 2007; Sadighi 1938; Pourshariati 1995. 2452 Yusoﬁ 2007. 2453 B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 314. Also see Browne, E.G., A Literary History of Persia: From the Earliest Times ır¯ ı ız¯ u ıd until Ferdowsi, Bethesda, reprint edn., 1997 (Browne 1997), p. 308; Gard¯ ı, Ab¯ Sa¯ Abd al-Hayy, . Zayn al-Akhb¯r, 1968, edited by ‘Abd al-Habibi (Gard¯ ı 1968), p. 120. a ız¯

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2454 Browne 1997, p. 309. B¯ un¯ 1984, pp. 193–194. Zamzama or “ritual droning during meals” ır¯ ı ¯ ı (Yusoﬁ 2007) was a practice indulged by orthodox Zoroastrians, so much so that Mas ud¯ calls the Avest¯ the Kit¯b al-zamzama. Sadighi 1938, p. 160. a a 2455 Sadighi 1996, p. 152. 2456 It is of course feasible that he was not necessarily a man of learning himself, but one with access to the services of the learned, a patron of the clerical classes, so to speak. Even so, he must have been personally engaged in the religious discourse current in his society. 2457 Czegledy 1958, p. 42, n. 85.

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descended to earth in order to proclaim his message. The peasant, believing Bih¯far¯ narrated to the people who had gathered around the rebel, how, in fact, a ıd, he had beheld him descending from the heavens. According to B¯ un¯ Bih¯faır¯ ı, a r¯ doctrines, and his mission as a Prophet, were subsequently believed and led ıd’s to the conversion of many in the surrounding regions. Our sources, albeit hostile, nevertheless highlight the numerical strength of his supporters. Bih¯far¯ a ıd, however, “differed from the Magians in most rites,” but believed in Zoroaster and claimed for his followers all the institutes of Zoroaster. In the annals of the religious movements in late antique Iran, the Prophet Bih¯far¯ M¯hfarvard¯ a ıd a ın established one hitherto unprecedented and crucial innovation: he offered his adherents a new holy book composed, signiﬁcantly, in Persian. As has been observed, moreover, his message was monotheistic, one of the seven prayers which he instituted being in praise of the one God. It seems clear that Bih¯faa r¯ doctrines were directed against the orthodox, learned Mazdean creed, for ıd’s according to B¯ un¯ his followers “strongly oppose[d] the Zamzam¯s amongst ır¯ ı, ı the Magians.”2454 Although Bih¯far¯ can be called a Zoroastrian heretic, in that he seems to a ıd have indulged in Zand or reinterpretation of the faith, he is also one of the few ﬁgures in the history of the faith who radically departed from it. In this sense, he can be compared more readily to M¯n¯ than to Mazdak. Bih¯far¯ claimed a ı a ıd Prophethood and buttressed this claim with reference to a new holy book that he presented to his followers. He was not there to simply reinterpret the faith, but to substantively change it. His emphasis on worldly concerns, on the other hand, puts him more on a par with Mazdak. Furthermore, Bih¯far¯ appears to have come from a learned background. a ıd He must be considered, therefore, a man of knowledge,2455 at least religious knowledge, for while we know very little of the contents of his holy book, the fact that he produced one indicates a learned background.2456 Only an extremely restricted group of people in Sasanian society could boast of such skills. Considering all this, it becomes rather evident that, in league with other infamous zand¯ks of the faith, he did not come from the plebeian classes. There ı are other indicators that point to the potential wealth of our self-proclaimed Prophet. As we have seen, several sources maintain that he traveled to China and Transoxiana, some even claim for trade, and give the duration of his stay in these regions from anywhere between one and seven years. We must remember that China in the regional terminology used at the period referred not to China proper but to the area of the Western Turks.2457

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1938. pp. 299–300. 2460 Shaki 1978, pp. 303–305. 2461 B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 315. ır¯ ı 2462 Contra Sadighi 1938, p. 158.
2459 B¯ un¯ 1984, ır¯ ı

2458 Sadighi

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In line with Sadighi, we also note that the social dimension of Bih¯far¯ a ıd’s doctrine seems to have been greater than its purely doctrinal aspect.2458 Some of his most radical departures from the orthodox faith espoused by the established clerics were aimed at ameliorating the lot of the middle classes of the society and undermining that of the nobility and the elite. The most important of these was the ban on close-kin marriage (khw¯d¯dah),2459 a long-established institution, e o sanctiﬁed hitherto even by the most radical revolutionaries in Sasanian society, the Mazdakites.2460 Close-kin marriage aimed to ensure the prerogatives of the nobility by keeping wealth, and therefore status, within the higher echelons of Sasanian society. Bih¯far¯ insistence on the interdiction of this institution, a ıd’s therefore, highlights the strong hold that class divisions still had on the community in which he preached and explains why his support base was plebeian and probably mercantile. Regarding marriage customs, he set the uppermost limit of mahr (dowry) at 400 dirhams. This was still a substantial sum that could only have been afforded by the middle-income sector of his society. Bih¯far¯ a ıd also introduced some kind of taxation reform, for he propagated the collection of oneseventh of all property and income (haft yek-i amv¯l va kasb-i a am¯l) a a as taxes for the repair of roads and bridges, the construction of caravansaries, care for those with incurable diseases, relief of the poor, and other charitable causes.2461 His preoccupation with building roads, bridges, and caravansaries, as well as other social aspects of his creed seem to have addressed the concerns of a mercantile, middle class, rather than the lowest or the highest echelons of society. In this, our rebel might have shared similar concerns with the Abb¯sid a revolutionaries. While the mercantile dimension of his social doctrines is the most blatant, he also seemed, as his charitable and relief efforts indicate, to have been concerned with the lot of the less fortunate, of whom there must have been many during this period. One of the most interesting religious dimensions of Bih¯far¯ claim to a ıd’s prophethood, however, was his avowed journey into the hereafter during his occultation. It was during this journey that he claimed to have seen Heaven and Hell, and to have received a green cloth from the Divine, before returning to the g¯t¯g. The eschatological dimension of Bih¯far¯ doctrine, in fact, is one of the ıı a ıd’s best documented aspects of his faith in our sources and seems to have formed one of the central cores of his dogma.2462 According to B¯ un¯ he instituted ır¯ ı, seven prayers for his followers. Four of these were concerned with matters of death and the hereafter: one for death, one for the day of reckoning (ba th o his¯b), one for the populations of Heaven and Hell, and one in praise of the . a

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2463 As for the remaining three, one had to do with the Unity of God, one with the creation of the skies and earth, and one with the creation of animals and their nourishment. 2464 See page 353. 2465 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900, pp. 258–290, Tha ¯lib¯ 1989, pp. 169–170. a ı a ı 2466 Shaked 1994a, p. 41. He further observes that “[even] the ancient Iranians may well have had several different modes for the disposal of the body, one of which was eventually adopted as the ofﬁcial Zoroastrian practice, while the others continued in use without religious sanction.” Ibid., n. 41.

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inhabitants of Heaven.2463 The Prophet’s epithet, M¯hfarvard¯ also reﬂects a ın, this eschatological concern, for according to Zoroastrian belief it is in the ﬁve days of Farvardig¯n that the souls of the dead return to their abodes. During a this period, the relatives of the deceased cleanse their homes and lay out clean spreads on which they put appetizing foods, which they then consume, hoping that the souls of the dead would thereby gain vigor. As eschatology formed one of the basic concerns of the Zoroastrian faith throughout the Sasanian period, Bih¯far¯ doctrine reﬂected a potent mark of continuity in Iranian expression a ıd’s of spirituality. We should recall at this point, however, that it was the God Mihr who was the quintessential deity for eschatological concerns.2464 Among the accounts of Bih¯far¯ journey to the hereafter is Tha ¯lib¯ a ıd’s a ı’s Ghurar, who adds the following interesting narrative.2465 In preparation for the proclamation of his Prophethood, Bih¯far¯ concocted an elaborate scheme in a ıd which he would feign his own death for a period of time, after which he would reappear and claim that he had ascended to the Heavens and had received his prophetic mission from the divine. To this end, in order to sustain himself during his occultation, he prepared imperishable edible provisions which he placed within two pillow-like sacks, hid two garments in a piece of cloth, and then gave orders to construct “a very large dome, from among the best and widest domes . . . with openings allowed for rain on all sides.” After these preparations, he feigned an incurable fatal disease and his subsequent death. Meanwhile, he had asked his wife that, upon his death, she should place him under the dome together with the sacks he had previously prepared. He then willed her to come every week to his shrine and wash her face at the openings in the dome. In this way, our hostile source informs us, the Prophet ensured his provisions, for, lying under the dome, each day, he would consume from the edibles he had prepared and would drink from the seeping rain or from the water with which his wife washed her face, until a year had passed. Sadighi takes issue with Tha ¯lib¯ narrative, arguing against the logic of this narrative and a ı’s the fact that Bih¯far¯ presumed instructions for his burial under a covered a ıd’s dome do not tally with Zoroastrian burial customs. But the point is precisely which burial customs, for, as we know, “the ofﬁcially sanctioned Zoroastrian mode for the disposal of the dead was not scrupulously followed in the Sasanid period.”2466 At any rate the description that Tha ¯lib¯ gives of Bih¯far¯ burial a ı a ıd’s place resembles less a tomb than a shrine, for the construction was to be in the shape of a dome. In fact, the later Bih¯far¯ a ıdiya expressly argued against the burial practices of the Muslims, for they maintained that the earth was

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an angel which would be polluted through the burying of a corpse. This last consideration also echoes the Zoroastrian conception of the earth as one of the Amahraspands.2467 As for the meaning of this narrative, we shall get to it shortly. In any event, when one year had passed, Bih¯far¯ awaited that period a ıd when the populace would gather to pay their respects at his shrine.2468 Tha ¯lia b¯ narrative then reaches its climax: in the midst of the commemorations of ı’s his death, Bih¯far¯ “got up, donned the green shirt and the green cloak, and a ıd when people saw him, announced: ‘O, people, I am Bih¯far¯ the messenger of a ıd, God to you’.”2469 6.3.1 Interlude: Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma a ıa a

The most interesting aspect of this narrative, as well as Bih¯far¯ institution a ıd’s of prayers to the dead and to the population of Heaven and Hell is its uncanny resemblance to the narrative of the Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma, a Zoroastrian work oba ıa a sessed with the description of the Day of Judgment and Heaven and Hell, painting in colorful detail the rewards and gruesome punishments of its respective occupants.2470 The Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma commences with a description of the a ıa a destructions wrought on Iran after the conquest of Alexander, when kingship, religion, and people succumbed to utter chaos, “doubting the matter of God (amr-i yazd¯n), with many religions and practices.”2471 In order to quell these a and achieve certainty about the afterlife for the ediﬁcation of the disbelievers, the m¯bads then decided to choose a righteous man and prepare him for a jouro ney to the hereafter. Ard¯ W¯ az (or Ard¯ Vir¯f) was chosen for the purpose. a ır¯ a a The m¯bads then “chose an agreeable place in the house of m¯n¯2472 measuring o ı u 30 gaz (dar kh¯na-i m¯n¯ j¯ ¯ kh¯b bih and¯za-i s¯ g¯m guz¯dand).” There, Ara ı u aı u a ı a ı d¯ W¯ az washed his body, “donned a new attire, and on a beﬁtting bedstead a ır¯ . . . set up a clean and new bed . . . He [then] . . . prayed . . . ate . . . and was given wine and mang.”2473 While in a semi-dead state, his seven sisters prayed for him for seven days, not leaving his bedside. During this period, the soul
2467 Spandarmad (Avestan Spenta Armaiti), Holy Devotion, is the Amahraspand presiding over the ¯ earth. 2468 According to Mary Boyce, and based on contemporary practice, the Zoroastrians do not make a sanctuary of a grave. Boyce, Mary, ‘B¯ ı Shahrb¯n¯ and the Lady of P¯rs’, Bulletin of the School of ıb¯ a u a Oriental and African Studies 30, (1967), pp. 30–44 (Boyce 1967), p. 30. However, as we have maintained earlier, a uniform burial practice and, by extension, commemoration of the dead cannot be established for the period under consideration. Incidentally, this tradition must have been either incorporated in Bih¯far¯ story at a later date, when the faith of the Prophet was well established and a ıd’s he had gathered enough followers who would undertake a pilgrimage to his shrine. Alternatively, and only if we give any historical credibility to this account, it betrays the status of the historical ﬁgure of Bih¯far¯ for only a man of considerable wealth and social standing in the rebel’s society a ıd, could be expected to have his burial site turn into what seems to have been a pilgrimage center. 2469 Tha ¯lib¯ 1900. a ı 2470 Compare also with Kird¯ ır’s journey to the hereafter on page 329. 2471 Arda Wiraz 1999. 2472 Bahar gives the equivalent of this as the house of the m¯nav¯ Atash, that is, presumably, the ﬁre ı ı ¯ temple. 2473 Arda Wiraz 1999, p. 302.

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(ruw¯n) of Ard¯ W¯ az was taken to the Chinvat Bridge on mount Chag¯d-i a a ır¯ a ¯ D¯it¯ (Har¯/Alburz). There, Sor¯sh, together with ¯ a ı a u Izad-i Adhar, awaited him and subsequently guided him on his journey through Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell, and answered all his questions. Upon his return from the realm of the dead after seven days, Ard¯ W¯ az’s sisters greeted him: “Welcome, O Ard¯ a ır¯ a W¯ az, our Mazdayasnian Prophet. You have come from the realm of the dead ır¯ to this abode of the living.”2474 All the motifs of Ard¯ W¯ az’s journey into the hereafter—the preparation a ır¯ of a special place for the temporarily deceased to be laid for the duration of his absence, the preparation of nourishment, in Ard¯ W¯ az’s case before and a ır¯ after his journey, a woman, or women, who keep(s) guard during his absence, the feigning of death, in Ard¯ W¯ az’s case by taking mang, and ﬁnally the a ır¯ reappearance of the deceased as a prophet from the hereafter—are also present in the sources narrating Bih¯far¯ presumed occultation and return from the a ıd’s dead. Also signiﬁcant is the indication that the appearance of Bih¯far¯ gives of a ıd the turbulent spiritual and social conditions that must have existed during his lifetime, conditions which in their reﬂection of the spiritual and social anxiety of the age also explain the millennial hope of the appearance of a new Prophet. The uncanny similarity of the two narratives becomes even more interesting, however, when we consider what must be their Mithraic purview. 6.3.2 Mithraic purview of Bih¯far¯ rebellion a ıd’s

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2474 Arda

Wiraz 1999, p. 303. 1979, pp. 697–698. 2476 See page 353.
2475 Belardi

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In the case of the Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma, when the soul of Ard¯ W¯ az is taken a ıa a a ır¯ across the Chinvat Bridge, it is not only Mihr, but all his associates, including ¯ the angels Sor¯sh, Rashnu, and Verethragn¯ ¯ u a Izad-i Adhar, that lead the way for Ard¯ W¯ az and answer his queries. Here the Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma itself is perhaps a ır¯ a ıa a betraying its original Mithraic provenance: Mihr is performing his eschatologˇ ical function on the individual level where “he presides over the Cinvat bridge tribunal, midway between Heaven and Hell, [overseeing] the compulsory passage of the soul of the faithful departed.”2475 Insofar as the eschatological function of Mihr is presumed to date back to remote antiquity,2476 therefore, we must also date the germs of Ard¯ W¯ az’s narrative to this same period. Now, a ır¯ while in none of the traditions of Bih¯far¯ the name of the divinity that directs a ıd Bih¯far¯ entrance into Heaven is provided, his narrative is replete with other a ıd’s symbols of Mihr worship. To begin with, the color of the garment bestowed on Bih¯far¯ by the unnamed divinity is the quintessential color of Mithra, green. a ıd Invariably, moreover, like the God Mihr, descending from the Har¯/Alburz a mountain, Bih¯far¯ descends either from atop a mountain or a dome. Like a ıd Mihr, who appears “earlier than the sun, . . . [and] travels in front of the sun,” so, too, Bih¯far¯ appears precisely at daybreak. Finally, as with the nourishing a ıd

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function of Mihr, the god of agriculturalists, so, too, in both B¯ un¯ and Majd-i ır¯ ı’s Khw¯f¯ narrative, Bih¯far¯ ﬁrst appears to a peasant. a ı’s a ıd While there is no detailed description of Bih¯far¯ witnessing the hereafter, a ıd moreover, a substantial part of the Prophet’s doctrine, not to mention his name, is concerned with the hereafter and death. The eschatological, Mithraic purview of Bih¯far¯ doctrine, therefore, has a lot to recommend itself. Besides its a ıd’s afﬁnities with the Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma and the eschatological dimensions of his a ıa a dogma, however, and above and beyond all the other evidence that we have pointed out, there is one other aspect of Bih¯far¯ doctrine which clearly a ıd’s betrays a Mithraic purview: his installment of the Sun as the qibla.2477 The priority of the sun as the paramount symbol of worship in Bih¯far¯ doctrine a ıd’s distinguishes it clearly as a Mithraic creed. For as we have noted, in the Mazdean faith, the sun, while deserving of worship and prayer, was never so central as to be placed, as is the case here, at the top of the pantheon.2478 So incongruous, in fact, was Bih¯far¯ insistence on sun-worship with what we know to be a ıd’s the monotheistic dimensions of his creed, that it left the late Sadighi perplexed. In view of the monotheistic dimensions of the faith, Sadighi argues, it is not clear why the Prophet attached so much importance to the sun, and neither do we understand the relationship of this astral symbol to God in Bih¯far¯ doca ıd’s trines.2479 Sun worship did have a place in the Mazdean faith, being performed three times during the day by the believers. In the case of Bih¯far¯ however, a ıd, as Sadighi observes, the only prayers incumbent upon the believers were those with the Sun as their qibla. Bih¯far¯ also composed a holy book in Persian for a ıd his followers. This does not imply, given the primarily oral tradition in Sasanian Iran, that Bih¯far¯ audience was therefore an educated, that is literate, a ıd’s audience. It does imply, however, as Amoretti observes, that the “Persian language was obviously chosen because, unlike the protagonists of Ab¯ Muslim’s u revolution, the followers of Bih¯far¯ were only local people.”2480 a ıd Predisposed to overestimating the development and spread of Islamic dogma during these early decades, some scholars have observed that aspects of Bih¯faa r¯ doctrines testify to their synthesis with Islamic injunctions.2481 Among ıd’s these they cite his prohibition against close-kin marriage, drinking wine, and
the identiﬁcation of Mithra with the sun, see page 357ff. 1994a, p. 92. 2479 Sadighi 1938, p. 124. 2480 Amoretti 1983, p.490. According to Sadighi, it is not clear whether Bih¯far¯ a ıd’s book was written in Pahlavi or Arabic characters. Sadighi 1938, pp. 122–123. The answer to this seems fairly obvious. If, as Sadighi himself admits, the Muslims were oblivious to the proselytizing of the new Prophet as well as to his person, his holy book could not have been written in Arabic characters. After all, to which audience would the book have addressed itself, had it been composed in Arabic characters? In fact, the question of the book’s script is a non-issue, for in whichever character, the readership of the book would have been very limited. The language, nonetheless, remained Persian. It might be postulated, nevertheless, that some of the supporters of Bih¯far¯ belonged to the more a ıd literate sector of society, hence the actual composition of a book for the ediﬁcation of these. 2481 Sadighi 1938, p. 127; Daniel, Elton L., The Political and Social History of Khurasan under Abbasid Rule: 747–820, Bibliotheca Islamica, 1979 (Daniel 1979), p. 91.
2478 Shaked 2477 For

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1938, p. 161. other regions, Bih¯far¯ followers continued to live in B¯dgh¯ a ıd’s a ıs. 2484 Bundahishn 1990, p. 78. 2485 Widengren 1979, p. 679. 2486 The evidence for this is substantial; we shall deal with this in a forthcoming project on the connection between Mithraism and the doctrines of the ayy¯rs. a 2487 Shaki 1978, p. 305, n. 149, where among others he gives reference to M¯ ırkhw¯nd, Rowd¯t ala .a Saf¯, Tehran, 1960 (M¯ ırkhw¯nd 1960), where it is maintained that Mazdak “forbade the people to a . a kill animals and eat their meat and fat.”
2483 Among

2482 Sadighi

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consumption of animals not properly slaughtered. For none of these, however, can we establish with any certainty an Islamic inﬂuence. Bih¯far¯ presumed a ıd’s injunction against drinking wine, for example, requires further research. It is not clear whether the ban was against drinking wine or against getting too intoxicated (sukr) by it.2482 If the former was the point of the commandment, then we should observe that to the east of Iran, in a region with which Bih¯a far¯ had intimate connections,2483 Shahrist¯n¯ cites at least two sects among ıd a ı the religions of India, namely the Bih¯d¯niya and the B¯s¯ya, the adherents a u au of which were prohibited from drinking wine as well. If indeed even modest drinking was prohibited, then Bih¯far¯ clearly went against both Mazdean and a ıd Mithraic practices. For, in Zoroastrianism, in general, and in Mihr worship, in particular, wine holds a sanctiﬁed place.2484 Drinking wine in moderation is even considered a meritorious act in Zoroastrianism.2485 In Mihr worship it even holds a central place.2486 If Bih¯far¯ forbade drinking wine, therefore, a ıd in this he was dissenting from Mihr worship. As far as the injunction against eating meat is concerned, moreover, we should observe that in the Mazdakite doctrine there was a similar injunction.2487 The B¯s¯ya mentioned by Shahrist¯au a n¯ moreover, were also encouraged to desist from lying, to praise ﬁre, and not ı, to eat the ﬂesh of animals not slaughtered for ﬁre. The point is that prohibitions such as eating ﬂesh or drinking wine were prevalent enough in the immediate milieu of Bih¯far¯ and need not be explained in Islamic terms. In short, while a ıd some of the injunctions of Bih¯far¯ might reﬂect later Islamic dietary practices, a ıd to attribute these solely to the latter can be hurried and rash. As far as the Muslim antagonism toward khw¯d¯dah was concerned, fure o thermore, we should note that Christian observers had long reprimanded the Zoroastrians for what had seemed to them an abhorrent practice. Never had this affected any anxiety among the Iranians prior to this. There is little reason to suspect, therefore, that Muslim attitude against this practice had inspired Bih¯far¯ ban. For, while, unlike the Christians, the Muslims were in power and a ıd’s their polemics against Iranian practices could have had potentially more force, it is patently clear that Bih¯far¯ was oblivious to their concerns. We should a ıd not lose sight of the fact that one element of Bih¯far¯ creed would have been a ıd’s the most loathsome to any devout Muslim: his self-proclaimed Prophethood. There could have been no reconciliation between this and Islam, as one of the most basic tenets of the faith—if one follows the Islamic narratives of its own origins—was its belief in the Prophet Muhammad as the Seal of the Prophets. .

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al-Nad¯ 1987, p. 614. ım footnote 2562. 2490 See Pourshariati 1998. Later on, however, some of his followers are mentioned in the vicinity of Marv. Sadighi 1938, p. 165. 2491 Gard¯ ı 1968, p. 120; B¯ un¯ 1984, pp. 210–211. ız¯ ır¯ ı
2489 See

2488 Ibn

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The observations about Muslim inﬂuence on Bih¯far¯ creed also rely on a ıd’s the presumed association of the rebel with the Abb¯sids. These stem from a a unique tradition in the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nad¯ where a connection is estabım, lished between Ab¯ Muslim and Bih¯far¯ 2488 According to this tradition, u a ıd. when Bih¯far¯ movement had gained momentum, presumably enough to a ıd’s cause anxiety for the movement that was broiling in Outer Khur¯s¯n and Tranaa soxiana, Ab¯ Muslim sent envoys to the self-proclaimed Prophet, inviting him u to become a Muslim. This, reportedly, they achieved. Shortly thereafter, as Bih¯far¯ had continued to indulge in prognostication, however, Ab¯ Muslim a ıd u turned against the Iranian rebel, and, dispatching Abdall¯h b. Sa¯ with an a ıd army to Z¯zan, had Bih¯far¯ captured in B¯dgh¯ and brought to N¯ ap¯r. In u a ıd a ıs ısh¯ u N¯ ap¯r, Ab¯ Muslim ordered the murder of the self-proclaimed Prophet, and ısh¯ u u had him hung in the j¯mi mosque, which, incidentally, Ab¯ Muslim himself a u had only recently constructed when he had made the city his capital. Shortly prior to this, as we shall see, another important Abb¯sid general, Humayd b. a . Qahtabah, had effected another crucial anti-Parthian policy: he had dethroned .. the Kan¯rang¯ an, undermining their power in Inner Khur¯s¯n after more than a ıy¯ aa half a millennium of rule.2489 All the evidence, therefore, suggests that Ab¯ u Muslim’s policies in Iran proper were staunchly anti-Iranian. In view of the ultimate treatment of Bih¯far¯ himself at the hands of the Muslims, any osa ıd tensible connection between the Abb¯sids and the rebel must be considered a shortlived at best. Yet, the tradition handed down by Ibn al-Nad¯ would ım have us believe that a man who had only recently launched his own claim to Prophethood, and who had gained a substantial following in the process, suddenly and unexpectedly, had forgone all this only to join the ranks of those who propagated the rule of al-rid¯ min ¯l-i Muhammad. In fact, other traditions put a .a . presumed Bih¯far¯ conversion after his capture at the hands of the agents of a ıd’s Ab¯ Muslim. u Unlike Ab¯ Muslim and other contenders for power at the time of the u Abb¯sid revolution, whose sphere of activity was predominantly Outer Khur¯a a s¯n and Transoxiana, the genesis, progress, and ﬁnal demise of the rebellion of a Bih¯far¯ all took place in Inner Khur¯s¯n. There is no indication that Bih¯faa ıd aa a r¯ had any support whatsoever in the regions where Ab¯ Muslim sent his du ¯t ıd u a and found his followers.2490 As all our sources underline, Bih¯far¯ ultimate a ıd’s goal was the takeover of N¯ ap¯r and its dependencies, not that of Marv or the ısh¯ u frontier cities of Outer Khur¯s¯n.2491 aa One of the sensitive issues for medieval Islamic authors writing about heterodox revolts was the extent of their popularity. It is a function of the relative objectivity of the Islamic sources, however, as well as the overwhelming

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popularity of these revolts, that almost all of our sources underline the tremendous support that the movement of Bih¯far¯ garnered.2492 The popularity of a ıd the revolt was such in fact, that it led Sadighi to conclude that had the Abb¯sid a revolution not been led by the energetic Ab¯ Muslim and had Bih¯far¯ had u a ıd more time at his disposal, the post-conquest history of Iran might have taken a different turn from that which ultimately transpired.2493 But Ab¯ Muslim did u suppress Bih¯far¯ and murdered him, together with his followers. And, in the a ıd ﬁnal analysis, this rather than any conjectural hypothesis about the presumed afﬁnities between the two movements, must direct our assessment of the nature of their mutual relationship. Bih¯far¯ movement, however, did not die: in subsequent centuries, it coa ıd’s alesced into a sect. Shahrist¯n¯ mentions them and observes that the S¯ aniya or a ı ıs¯ Bih¯far¯ a ıdiya, the followers of Bih¯far¯ had been encouraged by their Prophet a ıd, to keep their hair hank, and “occupy monasteries [where they] vie[d] with each other in bestowing generously.”2494 According to Shahrist¯n¯ they remained a ı, “the deadliest enemies of the Zamzam¯ Maj¯s.”2495 All of this has led Shaked to ı u argue that whereas all the other varieties of Iranian religions during the Sasanian and early Islamic period “simply did not exist as separate church structures,” the sect of the S¯ aniya seems to have been an exception to this rule. They came ıs¯ to have “a full code of religious behavior, as well as a full corpus of doctrine, and something like a separate church, an organization of believers . . . [all of which are] the necessary ingredients for the deﬁnition of a sect . . . [but which] are not frequently encountered in other groups.”2496 In view of our postulate that the Mithraic provenance of the Bih¯far¯ a ıdiya is valid, it is extremely interesting to note that the one other exception to this rule was yet another Mithraic group, namely the followers of B¯bak Khurramd¯ who also seem to have had a ın, a rather strict organization.2497 So abhorrent did the later Bih¯far¯ a ıdiya and their doctrines remain in Muslim eyes, in fact, that they were singled out as one of the only sects from whom collecting jizya was forbidden. From the paramountcy of sun-worship in Bih¯far¯ doctrine, to its evident a ıd’s eschatological concerns, to the motifs in his narrative that closely follow the functions of Mihr, very little doubt ought to remain about the Mithraic provenance of his movement. In the present state of our knowledge, unfortunately, we cannot ascertain Bih¯far¯ agnatic heritage. As almost all other rebellions a ıd’s

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2492 Ibn al-Nad¯ 1987, p. 614; Gard¯ ı 1968, p. 120; B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 210. Other sources give speciﬁc ım ız¯ ır¯ ı numbers. The author of Suwar al-Aq¯l¯m, for example, gives the ﬁgure 30,000 for the number of aı . adherents. Sadighi 1938, p. 120. 2493 Sadighi 1938, p. 121. 2494 As quoted in Shaked 1994b, p. 63. It should be noted that the competition of the S¯ aniya in ıs¯ making charitable donations should caution us against considering the exorbitant demands of the Zoroastrian m¯bads as a cause for apostasy from the faith. o 2495 As quoted in Shaked 1994b, p. 63. 2496 Shaked 1994b, pp. 46–47. 2497 Shaked 1994b, pp. 46–47, who does not, however, recognize the Mithraic purview of either movement.

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within the Pahlav domains in the post-conquest period were led by dynastic ﬁgures of substantial wealth and power,2498 and considering the information we have on Bih¯far¯ status, a plebeian background for the self-proclaimed Iraa ıd’s nian Prophet is out of the question. Bih¯far¯ rebellion does point to the rise a ıd’s of mercantile interests within the region and a possible antipathy against the interests of the landed gentry. Beyond this, we cannot comment further on the rebel’s personal background.

6.4

Sunb¯d the Sun Worshipper a

Less than ﬁve years after Ab¯ Muslim al-Marwaz¯ launched the Abb¯sid revu ı a olution from Outer Khur¯s¯n, Transoxiana, and Soghdiana, and effected the aa transition of the caliphate from the Umayyads to the Abb¯sids, the second a ¯ Abb¯sid caliph, Ab¯ Mansur al-Daw¯niq¯ (136–158/754–775), had him killed a u a ı . in 755. About two months later a tumultuous popular revolution engulfed the quarters of the north and the east, the domains of the Parthian dynastic families who had remained in power after the Arab conquest of the region, throughout the Umayyad period.2499 The revolt was led by a ﬁgure called Sunb¯d the Maa gian,2500 ostensibly under the banner of revenge for the murder of the Abb¯sid a leader Ab¯ Muslim. What is striking in the accounts of Sunb¯d’s rebellion, u a however, is how thoroughly they replicate the topoi of the narrative accounts of the rebellion of the Parthian dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a revolt which had a u ın, transpired in these same regions a century and a half earlier.2501 Before we give our evidence for this, it is necessary to give the main themes of the accounts of this enigmatic rebel of the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n and k¯st-i khwau a a a u r¯s¯n against the nascent Abb¯sid regime. To this end, we shall start with Balaa a am¯ account, for it contains most of the primary themes of Sunb¯d’s narraı’s a tive.2502 Bal am¯ informs us that Sunb¯d was a very wealthy Magian (¯ r¯ khw¯ı a u a a stah-i bisy¯r b¯d) from one of the villages of N¯ ap¯r. When the news of the a u ısh¯ u
2498 For the dynastic background of Sunb¯d, see §6.4.4; for those of Ust¯ds¯ B¯bak Khurramd¯ a a ıs, a ın, a ıy¯ and M¯z¯ ar, see the forthcoming work of the author. 2499 Revisionist historiography on the Abb¯sid revolution has in fact been curiously dismissive or a simply incongruent in its treatment of the Iranian revolts that erupted subsequent to the Abb¯sid a revolution. See, for example, Omar, Farouq, The Abb¯sid Caliphate: 132/750-170/786, Baghdad, a 1969 (Omar 1969), pp. 138 and 195; Shaban, M.A., Islamic History: A New Interpretation, vol. II, Cambridge University Press, 1971 (Shaban 1971), p. 14. While calling Sunb¯d’s rebellion a minor a affair and foregoing a discussion of it, Shaban acknowledges, for example, that the rebellion was potentially dangerous because it threatened to cut off the vital northern route between Khur¯s¯n aa and the west. As we have argued elsewhere, however, there is every indication that the Khur¯s¯n aa highway was not functioning during the Umayyad period. Pourshariati 1995, pp. 141–143. 2500 For Sunb¯d’s rebellion see, among others, Ibn Taqtaqa, Muhammad b. Al¯ b. Tab¯tab¯, Ta a ı . . . . a. a r¯kh-i Fakhr¯, 1988, translated by Muhammad Vahid Golpaygani (Ibn Taqtaqa 1988), pp. 232–233. ı ı . . A complete bibliography of sources pertaining to this revolt has been provided by Sadighi 1938, pp. 168–170, and others, including Daniel 1979; Pourshariati 1995. In the present study, only a selection of these will be offered. 2501 Czegledy had observed this without ever providing an explanation. 2502 Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 1093–1094. ı

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murder of Ab¯ Muslim reached him, Sunb¯d allegedly became heavy-hearted u a and subsequently proclaimed that as he was indebted to Ab¯ Muslim, it was u only just that he should spend his own wealth in avenging the latter’s death. If he were to exhaust his wealth, Sunb¯d proclaimed, he would be ready to give a his life. Remaining true to his promise, Sunb¯d then distributed his riches and a gathered a substantial army and set out, reportedly to avenge Ab¯ Muslim’s u death. Now, Ab¯ Muslim, according to Bal am¯ had many followers (shi a) in u ı, Khur¯s¯n. So two months after Ab¯ Muslim’s murder an army of 60,000 people aa u gathered around the Magian Sunb¯d and set out from N¯ ap¯r toward Iraq. On a ısh¯ u their way they halted in Rayy, the former Mihr¯nid capital of the quarter of the a ¯ north, now under the jurisdiction of the Al-i J¯m¯sp.2503 Here, one of Sunb¯d’s a a a ﬁrst acts was to kill Ab¯ Ubaydah Hanaf¯ the governor of Rayy from before u ı, . Mansur’s time, appointed to the region by the Abb¯sid revolutionaries thema .¯ selves.2504 In Rayy the number of Sunb¯d’s followers increased substantially, a reaching the incredible number of 100,000, likewise eager to avenge the murder of Ab¯ Muslim.2505 When the shrewd Abb¯sid caliph Mansur was informed u a .¯ of Sunb¯d’s rebellion, he sent Jawhar b. Marr¯r al- Ijl¯ to quell the uprising.2506 a a ı In a speech before the battle, Jawhar made the stakes involved quite clear for the mostly Arab forces that had gathered around him: Sunb¯d’s followers were a bent on “exterminat[ing] your religion and expel[ling] you from your worldly possessions.”2507 Jawhar’s forces, we are told, included a comparatively meagre 10,000 men. Somewhere between Hamad¯n in Media and Rayy, the two forces a ﬁnally engaged each other, and in spite of the presumed numerical superiority of Sunb¯d’s army, he was defeated by Jawhar. In ﬂight, Sunb¯d returned back a a to Rayy whence he set out for Gurg¯n. In Gurg¯n he was intercepted by the isa a pahbud of the region, rendered by Bal am¯ as Hormoz b. al-Farj¯n (Farrukh¯n), ı a a who forthwith killed Sunb¯d, presumably on the order of the Abb¯sid caliph, a a Mansur.2508 .¯ Bal am¯ provides further details: When Sunb¯d had reached Rayy with his ı a army, he found Ab¯ Muslim’s treasury there.2509 Taking over Ab¯ Muslim’s u u treasures, Sunb¯d now allegedly proclaimed that as he was the one who had a
1879, pp. 1093–1094. See also §4.5. al-Mulk 1941, p. 260. . 2505 Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261. .a 2506 Kennedy perceptively points out that Mansur sent against the rising rebel “not the Khurasaniya, .¯ who might have felt some sympathy for his cause, but the people who had most to lose from his success, i.e., the Arabs of western Iran, led by Jawhar b. Marrar al- Ijl¯ The Ijl¯ were the most ı. ıs powerful Arab tribe in the area of Jibal and they followed Jawhar, along with the troops of Fars, Khuzistan and the lightly armed troops of Isfahan and Qum.” Kennedy, Hugh, The Early Abbasid Caliphate, Totowa, reprint edn., 1981 (Kennedy 1981), p. 64. 2507 Kennedy 1981, p. 64. 2508 Nöldeke 1879, p. 419, n. 2365, Nöldeke 1979, pp. 1093–1094. This Farrukh¯n is probably the a cousin of Khursh¯ see page 314. In Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative the name of this cousin is rendered ıd, ıy¯ Tus; see §4.5.2. .¯ 2509 Bal am¯ 1959, pp. 1093–1094. For Ab¯ Muslim’s treasury, see footnote 1812 and page 444ff ı u below.
2504 Niz¯m a 2503 Nöldeke

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risen in order to avenge the blood of the revolutionary leader, he was also the most entitled to his wealth. The already wealthy Sunb¯d, therefore, presuma ably also usurped Ab¯ Muslim’s treasury in Rayy. Sunb¯d, the alleged avenger u a of Ab¯ Muslim, then proceeded to disclose one of the most important compou nents of his platform: to end Arab rule over Iran, and implicitly, by extension to restore Iranian hegemony. In the Siy¯sat N¯ma, Niz¯m al-Mulk adds further a a .a signiﬁcant information not found in Bal am¯ narrative. Whenever in privacy ı’s with the Magians, Sunb¯d would declare that “the rule of the Arabs had reached a its end . . . [for he had seen this] prophesied in one of the books of Ban¯ S¯s¯n.” ı aa Sunb¯d’s anti-Arab, anti-Muslim stand is underlined in Niz¯m al-Mulk’s nara .a rative. The rebel declared that he would not cease until he had destroyed the Ka ba. The Ka ba, he argued, had been installed as the qibla in lieu of the true direction of prayer, namely the Sun. As it had been in former times, Sunb¯d a therefore pledged, he would restore the sun as the qibla.2510 Niz¯m al-Mulk’s account contains other, perplexing information, however. .a Shortly after maintaining that Ab¯ Muslim was in fact dead and that he had u risen in his revenge, Sunb¯d is said to have proclaimed to the “people of Iraq a and Khur¯s¯n that Ab¯ Muslim was [in fact] not dead.”2511 According to Niz¯aa u .a m al-Mulk, Sunb¯d now argued that when Mansur attempted to murder Ab¯ a u .¯ Muslim, the latter murmured the name of God almighty (n¯m-i mah¯n-i khud¯a ı a y-i ta ¯l¯ bikh¯nd), forthwith turned into a white dove, and ﬂew off to the east. aa a There, in the Copper Fortress, Ab¯ Muslim sat in the company of the Mahd¯ u ı and Mazdak. “The ﬁrst to appear will be Ab¯ Muslim! Mazdak will be his u vizier! And I myself, will receive the epistle of Ab¯ Muslim,” Sunb¯d then prou a claimed.2512 This, then, was how Sunb¯d viewed Ab¯ Muslim and his own rea u lation with the Abb¯sid rebel, according to Niz¯m al-Mulk’s curious narrative. a .a a Niz¯m al-Mulk’s millennial depiction of Sunb¯d’s rebellion is itself partly .a a testimony to its posthumous articulation. It contains both the hindsight of the rebel’s defeat and his hope for enacting the millennial aspirations of his followers. So total was Sunb¯d’s defeat, in fact, and so many of Sunb¯d’s fola a lowers were massacred in the war against Jawhar, that, according to one tradition, until the year 300 AH, their corpses were still extant.2513 After defeating Sunb¯d, Jawhar usurped all of Sunb¯d’s wealth as well as Ab¯ Muslim’s treaa a u sury.2514 Subsequently, fearing that Mansur would seize this wealth, Jawhar .¯

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2510 Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261. Ibn Taqtaqa 1988, pp. 232–233. For Sunb¯d’s intention of a .a . . destroying the Ka ba, also see Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, p. 481. Sadighi subsequently concludes that Sunb¯d ır a “a voulu, comme Bihâfarîd, rétablir l’ancienne coutume [des Iraniennes].” Sadighi 1938, p. 143. 2511 Sadighi 1938, p. 140. 2512 Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261. .a 2513 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 174. ıy¯ 2514 Ya q¯ bi 1969, vol. 2, pp. 441–442; Mas ud¯ 1869, vol. 6, pp. 188–189, Mas ud¯ 1968, pp. 297–298; ¯ ı ¯ ı u ı, a ı ı Maqdis¯ Mutahhar b. T¯hir, Kit¯b al-Bad wa ’l-Ta r¯kh, Paris, 1919, edited by C. Huart (Maqdis¯ . .a 1919), vol. 5, p. 82; Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261. .a

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himself mutinied and rebelled against the Abb¯sid caliph.2515 The motif of a treasury, therefore, continues to loom large in Sunb¯d’s narrative. a There is another signiﬁcant tradition, however, contained in the T¯r¯khaı i Tabarist¯n and other sources about the ultimate fate of Sunb¯d and that of a a . his treasury, which provides an extremely crucial context for understanding Sunb¯d’s rebellion and the provenance of his narrative.2516 Ibn Isfand¯ ar, the a ıy¯ author of the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, was a native of the region. Having access aı a . to local traditions circulating in his homeland around the fate of this regional hero, his account must be deemed more trustworthy than others. According to this author, when the news of Ab¯ Muslim’s murder reached Sunb¯d in Rayy, u a ¯ Sunb¯d allied himself with the Al-i J¯m¯sp ispahbud of Tabarist¯n, Khursh¯ a a a a ıd, . the Sun-King.2517 According to Ibn Isfand¯ ar, we recall, before proceeding ıy¯ to war against Jawhar, Sunb¯d had already sent “all of his treasury and beasts a of burden in safe-keeping to Khursh¯ Together with these he had sent six ıd. million dirhams as gifts.”2518 While Sunb¯d’s army was defeated by the forces a of Jawhar b. Marr¯r,2519 Sunb¯d himself survived and took refuge with the king a a of Padhashkhw¯rgar. Unlike Bal am¯ who calls him the ispahbud Farrukh¯a ı, a n, Ibn Isfand¯ ar and most other sources correctly identify this ﬁgure as the ıy¯ ¯ ispahbud Khursh¯ the Al-i J¯m¯sp progeny of G¯vb¯rih (the cow devotee). We ıd, a a a a recall, however, that Sunb¯d was, in fact, killed on his way to Khursh¯ by the a ıd latter’s cousin, Tus.2520 While Ibn Isfand¯ ar maintains Tus to be a cousin of ıy¯ .¯ .¯ Khursh¯ Ibn al-Ath¯ claims him to have been a governor ( ¯mil) on behalf ıd, ır a of Khursh¯ 2521 As Sadighi observes the two afﬁliations were not necessarily ıd. mutually exclusive: Tus could have been both a cousin as well as a governor of .¯ Khursh¯ since an agnatic structure of power dominated not only the polity ıd, ¯ of the Parthian dynasts—presumably subservient to the rule of the Al-i J¯m¯sp a a ¯ J¯m¯sp. While agitated at this point—but also the Sasanian family of the Al-i a a and saddened over Sunb¯d’s murder at the hand of Tus,2522 according to Ibn a .¯ Isfand¯ ar, Khursh¯ nevertheless, conveniently seized the wealth that Sunb¯d ıy¯ ıd, a had committed to his safe-keeping, and with one of his representatives, called, signiﬁcantly, P¯r¯z (Verethragn¯, the victorious), he sent the already severed ıu a head of Sunb¯d, together with presents, to the Abb¯sid caliph Mansur. The a a .¯ latter, not content with what he had received, demanded the treasuries of Ab¯ u Muslim usurped by his avenger Sunb¯d. Once more, therefore, the motif of a

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2515 Bal am¯ T¯r¯kh-nama-i Tabar¯, Tehran, 1987, edited by Muhammad Rowshan (Bal am¯ 1987), ı, a ı ı ı . pp. 1093–1094. 2516 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 174–175. ıy¯ 2517 Also in Nöldeke 1879; and, without naming Khursh¯ but mentioning Tus, Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, ıd, ır .¯ vol. 5, pp. 481–482. For Khursh¯ see §4.5. ıd, 2518 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 174. ıy¯ 2519 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 174. ıy¯ 2520 See §4.5.2. 2521 Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 5, pp. 481–482. ır 2522 As Sadighi aptly observes, however, Tus as a ﬁgure under the authority of Khursh¯ could not ıd, .¯ have undertaken such an action without the latter’s approval. Sadighi 1996, p. 182, n. 3.

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treasury appears in the narrative. Khursh¯ refused to oblige, and here starts the ıd ¯ saga of the destruction of the Al-i J¯m¯sp at the hands of the Abb¯sid caliph.2523 a a a Mansur sent Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ Umar b. al- Al¯ against Khursh¯ It is at this point, u a ıd. .¯ . ıb we recall,2524 that, after the ﬁnal defeat of Khursh¯ the army of Islam settled in ıd, the territory for a period of two years and seven months, taking “up residence under the roofs of houses” in the former lands of Khursh¯ Sh¯h.2525 ıd a 6.4.1 Sunb¯d and Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ recurrent narrative motifs a a u ın:

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Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 175. See §4.5.3. ıy¯ page 316. 2525 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 175. ıy¯ 2526 For the Copper Fortress (R¯y¯n Dizh), see page 406 above. u ı
2524 See

2523 Ibn

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This, then, is the germ of the narrative of the Magian Sunb¯d N¯ ap¯r¯ a hero a ısh¯ u ı: who emerged emerged from the east, with a substantial army and wealth at his disposal. He then came to Tabarist¯n where he entered into an alliance with the a . Padhashkhw¯rgar Sh¯h, the Sun-King, Khursh¯ In the former capital of the a a ıd. Mihr¯ns, Rayy, however, not only did his army increase, but, even more impora tantly, he presumably also obtained the treasury of Ab¯ Muslim. Somewhere u in the process he claimed to have been an avenger bent on retaliating against the unjust murder of another eastern hero. While his rebellion ultimately ended in defeat, the millennial hope of his cause remained active. For the spirit of his cause célèbre had already ﬂown east, to the Copper Fortress.2526 This, we realize, is a familiar narrative, one which, once again, superimposes historic events onto a paradigmatic mythic narrative, most likely of popular provenance. It is also thoroughly Mithraic. In what follows, it will be argued that while some aspects of the historicity of the relationship between Sunb¯d a and Ab¯ Muslim are probably valid, the ideological and political platforms of u the two rebellions were so distinctly at odds that the primary motif of revenge for the murder of Ab¯ Muslim in Sunb¯d’s narrative, as well as a number of u a other motifs, are nothing but Mithraic topoi borrowed from the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and ultimately from the myth of Man¯chihr and Afr¯s¯ ab. a u ın, u a ıy¯ These topoi were superimposed onto Sunb¯d’s narrative precisely because, like a Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Sunb¯d’s revolt erupted in the quarters of the north and the a u ın, a east, where Mihr worship was the dominant form of religiosity. Once we recognize that the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ provided the paradigm for the nara u ın rative structure of Sunb¯d’s rebellion, some of the details of Sunb¯d’s account, a a especially the problematic relationship of Sunb¯d with Ab¯ Muslim, become a u suspect. They forewarn us about imputing to Sunb¯d’s historic rebellion cula tural currents and inﬂuences, especially Islamic ones, that were most probably alien to the cultural milieu of Sunb¯d. a To further identify these motifs, therefore, we shall begin with the regional issue: Sunb¯d’s rebellion engulfed both the quarters of the north and the quara ters of the east. One tradition even claims that Sunb¯d’s rebellion actually a started in Azarb¯yj¯n and then spread to Rayy and Tabarist¯n. Agapius of a a a .

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Manjib maintains that Sunb¯d, who was one of the commanders of Ab¯ Musa u lim’s army, received the news of the latter’s death while in Azarb¯yj¯n, from a a where he went to Rayy in order to gain the support of the Magians and the Daylamites.2527 All other sources, however, connect Sunb¯d’s rebellion systema atically and intimately to the regions of N¯ ap¯r, Rayy, Q¯mis, and Gurg¯n, ısh¯ u u a the same regions, in other words, in which the rebellions of the Parthian dynasts Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and Vist¯hm had taken place some century and a half a u ın a prior to this. The geographical motifs of Sunb¯d’s rebellion, however, go beyond this. a Sunb¯d, like Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ emerged from the east. Almost all of our a a u ın, sources maintain that the original homeland of the Magian Sunb¯d was the a region of N¯ ap¯r in Inner Khur¯s¯n. Where exactly in the extensive region ısh¯ u aa of N¯ ap¯r the rebel came from is not clear. Most sources agree that he was ısh¯ u from one of the villages (qur¯) of N¯ ap¯r.2528 A second geographical motif, a ısh¯ u however, connects Sunb¯d’s rebellion to even further east. For the putative cona nection of Sunb¯d with the unjustly murdered Ab¯ Muslim, a hero who rose in a u Outer Khur¯s¯n, to the east of Sunb¯d’s native territory, reinforces the eastern aa a provenance of Sunb¯d’s rebellion. Add to this the transmigration of the soul a of Ab¯ Muslim to the R¯y¯n Dizh (Copper Fortress), and we realize that the u u ı geographical framework of Sunb¯d’s rebellion replicates that of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a a u b¯ Like Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion, however, the revolt of Sunb¯d was also ın. a u ın’s a intimately connected with Rayy. Almost all of the sources at our disposal highlight the fact that, while a native of N¯ ap¯r, it was from Rayy that Sunb¯d ısh¯ u a launched his rebellion against the caliph.2529 In Rayy, furthermore, his army was substantially augmented when the population of the quarters of the north and the east joined his ranks.2530 It was in Rayy, moreover, that Sunb¯d, like a Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ came into the possession of a treasury. a u ın, 6.4.2 Mithraic purview of Sunb¯d’s rebellion a

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of Manjib 1911, p. 538. Bal am¯ 1987, p. 1093. Also see Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261; Ibn Taqtaqa 1988, ı .a . . pp. 232–233; Ya q¯bi 1969, vol. 1, p. 442. u 2529 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, pp. 174–175; Amul¯ 1969, pp. 57–59; Khayy¯t 1977, pp. 416–417; Bal am¯ ¯ ıy¯ ı a. ı 1987, pp. 1093–1094; Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261; Ibn Taqtaqa 1988, pp. 232–233. .a . . 2530 Mas ud¯ 1869, vol. 6, pp. 188–189, Mas ud¯ 1968, pp. 297–298. ¯ ı ¯ ı 2531 See below.
2528 See

2527 Agapius

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While obscurity shrouds the relationship of Sunb¯d with Ab¯ Muslim and his a u army of the east,2531 and while the R¯y¯n Dizh is clearly a legendary motif, u ı however, the actual historical relationship of Sunb¯d with Tabarist¯n and Rayy a a . is thoroughly historic. It was with the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar that Sunb¯d a a formed a collaboration. To this historic association, however, has been added a legendary myth. As in the Mithraic rendition of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narraa u ın’s tive where the hero acquired a treasury from the God Mihr, so too in Sunb¯d’s a narrative, it was in Rayy that the hero obtained a treasury. However, while in

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the former narrative it was Mihr who bestowed a treasury on the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar, Kai Bahr¯m,2532 in Sunb¯d’s narrative this Mithraic paradigm is a a a inverted and it was Sunb¯d who gave his treasury in safe-keeping to the king a of Padhashkhw¯rgar, Khursh¯ There remains, however, an amazing historic a ıd. ¯ dimension to this aspect of Sunb¯d’s saga, as well, for the Al-i J¯m¯sp king a a a with whom Sunb¯d collaborated was in fact called Khursh¯ his very name a ıd, reﬂecting the theophoric dimension of his spirituality, for he was the SunKing. While there is historic certainty about the correspondence of Sunb¯d a with Khursh¯ however, a second motif appearing in Sunb¯d’s narrative is acıd, a tually quite problematic. The motif of revenge This second motif is the purported connection of Sunb¯d with the ﬁgure of a Ab¯ Muslim. In this connection the theme of revenge is invariably highlighted u in all of our sources. Sunb¯d supposedly launched his revolt to avenge the a death of the leader of the Abb¯sid revolution, Ab¯ Muslim. This theme of a u revenge has also been emphasized by all the secondary literature on the topic. Revenge for the murder of the Abb¯sid leader has been considered as one of a the primary stimuli for Sunb¯d’s rebellion. One of the explicit conclusions that a has followed as a result of this emphasis on vengeance has been the claim that a great many of Sunb¯d’s supporters were remnants of Ab¯ Muslim’s army. As a u most have recognized, however, the connection of Ab¯ Muslim to Sunb¯d is in u a fact one of the most problematic aspects of Sunb¯d’s background. Sadighi even a expresses despair that the nature of this relationship will perhaps never become clear.2533 As we have seen, Sadighi underlines the incongruity of Niz¯m al.a Mulk’s narrative. Did Sunb¯d claim to avenge the murder of Ab¯ Muslim, or a u did he maintain that the latter was actually alive, and he was only his apostle?2534 Likewise, while acknowledging that Sunb¯d was “closely connected with Abu a Muslim, whose death was the immediate cause of the outbreak” of his rebellion, Kennedy also expresses despair about Sunb¯d’s postulated association with the a Abb¯sid revolutionary: As Sunb¯d “sought to revive the old Persian religion a a and drive the Arabs out of the country, an aim summed up in his declared intention of sacking the Ka ba, . . . [and as there] is no evidence that Abu Muslim had any intention of ending Arab rule or restoring Zoroastrianism, . . . [the most] curious feature of this rebellion . . . is the connection of Sunb¯d with a Ab¯ Muslim.”2535 u
page 411. 1938. 2534 Together with other scholars, Sadighi therefore concludes that the “exposition of Niz¯m al.a Mulk reﬂects the different doctrines which existed” when Niz¯m al-Mulk was writing, doctrines .a which were prevalent among the sects that had been formed in the centuries following Sunb¯d’s a rebellion. Niz¯m al-Mulk’s rendition of events probably reﬂects “the state of these doctrines as .a they evolved, . . . [the author having confused] the essential ideas of the leader with the diverse [beliefs] of his followers.” Sadighi 1938, p. 140. 2535 Kennedy 1981, p. 64.
2533 Sadighi 2532 See

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The theme of revenge is also a central part of another narrative discussed in this study, namely that of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 2536 While initially launching his a u ın. rebellion against Hormozd IV, we recall, after the subsequent blinding and deposition of the king at the hands of the Ispahbudh¯n brothers, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯a a u b¯ went on to sustain his rebellion on the platform of avenging Hormozd ın IV against the usurper Khusrow II Parv¯ 2537 It is in the theme of the “old ız. legend about the conﬂict between [Man¯chihr] and [Afr¯s¯ ab],”2538 superimu a ıy¯ posed on Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrative, that Sunb¯d’s rebellion mimics that of a u ın’s a the Parthian Mihr¯nid dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ The chief achievement of Maa a u ın. n¯chihr, as we have mentioned before, was avenging the death of Iraj, who was u murdered by his brothers.2539 This theme, together with all the narratives that replicate it, is thoroughly Mithraic. It is Mithra who “balances [his] rewarding function . . . against his role as the terrible avenger of those who break their contracts.”2540 This theme is also incorporated in the narrative of the K¯rinid a Sukhr¯’s war against the Hephthalites on behalf of P¯ uz.2541 There is little a ır¯ doubt, therefore, that Mithraic religio-cultural currents informed Sunb¯d’s rea bellion against the Abb¯sid caliph, as they did in the revolt of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın. The motif of treasure What lends credence to the superimposition of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ narrative a u ın’s onto that of Sunb¯d is a third motif, the motif of treasury. In Sunb¯d’s nara a rative, a systematically highlighted theme is the rebel’s supposed acquisition of Ab¯ Muslim’s treasury. While the theme of the personal wealth of Sunb¯d is reu a iterated in a number of our sources, it is the motif of the treasury of Ab¯ Muslim u falling into the hands of Sunb¯d that is highlighted in almost all of our narraa tives. Signiﬁcantly, by most accounts, this occurs in Rayy. This incongruous juxtaposition of the motifs of wealth and treasury is nowhere better highlighted than in Bal am¯ narrative. On the one hand, Sunb¯d is said to have been an ı’s a independently wealthy acquaintance of Ab¯ Muslim. In this part of the naru rative, the afﬂuent Sunb¯d was so heart-broken by the news of Ab¯ Muslim’s a u death that he vowed to avenge him with an army that he subsequently recruited using his own personal wealth.2542 In a later section of this same narrative, however, Bal am¯ gives a completely different provenance for the wealth of Sunb¯d: ı a when Sunb¯d reached Rayy with his army, he found Ab¯ Muslim’s treasury a u there. He then took possession of this treasury arguing that as the avenger of Ab¯ Muslim’s blood, he was the most entitled to this treasury.2543 u

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page 413. page 127ff. 2538 Olsson 1983, p. 39. 2539 Yarshater 1983b, p. 434. See also page 375ff. 2540 Thieme 1975, p. 29. 2541 Tabar¯ 1999, pp. 116–117, de Goeje, 877. See our discussion on page 380ff. ı . 2542 This section of the narrative then takes the saga of Sunb¯d to his death at the hands of the a ispahbud of Gurg¯n, Hormoz b. al-Farrukh¯n (rendered in the text as Farruj¯n). a a a 2543 Bal am¯ 1987, pp. 1093–1094. ı
2537 See

2536 See

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Most of the evidence at our disposal, however, indicates that the theme of Ab¯ Muslim’s treasury is in fact a mere topos. Indeed, it is never explained u clearly why Ab¯ Muslim, going on a temporary visit to Mansur, would have u .¯ carried his treasury with him, and why, of all possible locations, he would have left these in Rayy.2544 In fact, as Sadighi observes, the account of Ab¯ Muslim’s u presumed activities in Rayy remain extremely nebulous.2545 The respective capitals of Ab¯ Muslim in Khur¯s¯n were Marv and N¯ ap¯r.2546 Suspecting the u aa ısh¯ u motives of Mansur, in a trip wrought with uncertainties of potential war with .¯ the caliph, and in anticipation of distributing wealth to his army, Ab¯ Muslim u could very well have taken his treasury along with him, but the whole narrative of this episode is so confused in the accounts of our sources that none of this clear. The motif of the treasury and the choice of Rayy, on the other hand, have such an uncanny resemblance with the motifs of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion a u ın’s and his acquisition of wealth as the king of Padhashkhw¯rgar,2547 that it makes a the reappearance of this theme in Sunb¯d’s rebellion extremely suspect, to say a the least. 6.4.3 Sunb¯d and the apocalypse a

Prominent in the accounts of Sunb¯d’s rebellion is its apocalyptic dimension, a whereby the destruction of the agents of Kheshm, the Arabs, and their temple, the Ka ba, and the restoration of the kingdom of Iran, along with the sun as the qibla are promised. In its millennial features, Sunb¯d’s movement bears a testimony to the continuation of the millennial aspirations as evinced in the rebellion of the Parthian Mihr¯nid dynast Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ at the end of the a a u ın sixth century. As we have seen, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ rebellion later became part a u ın’s and parcel of the apocalyptic literature. Sunb¯d seems to have had access to a this same textual tradition. We recall that according to Niz¯m al-Mulk, Sun.a b¯d would secretly prognosticate: “the rule of the Arabs has reached its end a for I have seen it [foretold] in one of the books of Ban¯ S¯s¯n.”2548 As Sadighi u aa observes, millennial expectations of ending Arab rule preoccupied the Iranian popular imagination in the wake of the Arab conquest and held currency for many centuries thereafter.2549 Contrary to Rekaya’s claims, and those following his school of thought, these millennial expectations prevailed, at least among
note 1812. 1938, p. 137. While the details of Sunb¯d’s association with Rayy, and his activities a there are not clear, however, in the connection that Sunb¯d established with the ispahbud of Tabaa . rist¯n, Khursh¯ the rebel’s intimate connection with Rayy is beyond any doubt. a ıd, 2546 For Ab¯ Muslim’s activities, especially his construction activity when he established N¯ ap¯ r u ısh¯ u as the capital of Inner Khur¯s¯n, see Pourshariati 1998. aa 2547 See pages 408 and 410. 2548 Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261. Incidentally, we recall that one of the accusations hurled by .a Ab¯ Muslim against Bih¯far¯ was a similar tendency toward prognostication; see page 435. u a ıd 2549 Sadighi 1938, pp. 140–141. Millennial expectations were current during the antique and late antique period throughout the Mediterranean world, Mesopotamia, and Iran, so there is nothing unusual about this phenomenon in the Iranian case. Eddy 1961. What was peculiar to this juncture of Iranian history was that the Arabs, as opposed to, say, Alexander, became the point of reference.
2545 Sadighi 2544 See

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some sectors of the population, for a long period even subsequent to Sunb¯d’s a revolt. B¯ un¯ in fact, bears testimony to the prevalence of these expectations ır¯ ı, during the Buyid period (934–1055): the Buyid assumption of power had apparently also engendered the millennial hope that through them Arab rule would soon be terminated and kingship would be restored to the Iranians.2550 As Blochet justiﬁably observes, therefore, when Sunb¯d declared that he had seen the a prognostication of the end of Arab rule “in one of the books of the Ban¯ S¯s¯n,” u aa he was probably sincere: the Bundahishn, for instance, maintains that sometime after the “Arabs . . . [have] spread their own law and their cursed religion in Iran . . . their tyranny will cease, and they will be overthrown.”2551 The apocalypse of the Arab conquest and the millennial expectation of the termination of Arab rule is contained not only in the Bundahishn, but also in all other Iranian apocalyptic literature, such as the J¯m¯sp N¯mak and the Zand i Vahuman Yasn. The a a a continuity of the millennial tradition from the revolt of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ to a u ın that of Sunb¯d, therefore, is not open to question. Whereas Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın, in support of an illegitimate or legitimate cause, depending on the apocalyptic tradition one considers, wages a war against the Sasanians, however, Sunb¯d, a from the perspective of his followers, wages an unquestionably just war against the Arabs. Perhaps the most signiﬁcant current infusing the narrative of Sunb¯d, like its a paradigmatic model, the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ is that of Mihr worship. a u ın, This was to be expected. For the territorial environment of Sunb¯d’s rebellion, a like that of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ was one in which Mihr worship was the most a u ın, predominant form of spirituality. All the symbols, or motifs that betray this symbolism, can be found in the narratives of Sunb¯d’s rebellion: Like Bahr¯m-i a a Ch¯b¯ Sunb¯d came to acquire an army and a treasury in the capital of the u ın, a Padhashkhw¯rgar Sh¯h. As with Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Sunb¯d emerged from the a a a u ın, a east. As Man¯chihr and Kai Bahr¯m, Sunb¯d rose against an egregious injustice u a a and led a rebellion. Finally, as with the former, Sunb¯d’s protagonist, Ab¯ Musa u lim, and presumably the rebel himself, found their fate, once again, in the east, in the R¯y¯ Dizh. It should be remarked, incidentally, that insofar as both u ın Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ and Sunb¯d emerged from the east and returned to this same a u ın a
2550 B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 303. Having observed the currency of these sentiments, however, B¯ un¯ exır¯ ı ır¯ ı pressed his reservations about these and declared that the choice of the Buyids as the agency for restoring Iranian kingship seemed unwarranted. For, among the governments that had appeared thus far, the astrological conﬁgurations signaling the fulﬁllment of millennial expectations fell more clearly during the period of the Abb¯sid dawla, who “were a Khur¯s¯nid and eastern government.” a aa B¯ un¯ subsequently added, however, that “both the Abb¯sids, as well as the Buyids, were far from ır¯ ı a [successful in] reviving Persian kingship and government.” B¯ un¯ 1984, p. 303. The constant postır¯ ı ponement of millennial expectations in the face of actual historical realities is, of course, a chief characteristic of the apocalyptic genre. 2551 We have used Blochet’s French translation here. The relevant chapter is entitled “On the calamities that have befallen the Persian through different ages.” Here the restoration of Iran is promised in reference to the Avest¯. Blochet, E., Le messianisme dans l’hétérodoxie Musulmane, Paris, 1903 a (Blochet 1903), pp. 45–46. Blochet concludes, therefore, that “it is possible that this passage of the Siy¯sat N¯ma is an exact reproduction of the proclamation of Sunb¯d.” Ibid., p. 45. a a a

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region, they were replicating the movements of the God Mihr, who, riding on his chariot, begins his westward journey in front of the sun only to return to the east, to its point of origin, to recommence the day. Like Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın-i Mihrewandak, who, as a Mihr devotee, wanted to restore the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre, ın so too Sunb¯d aspired to destroy the Ka ba and restore the Sun as the true qibla. a This, they aimed in historical reality and not simply in mythical ﬁction. While the movement of the Mihr¯nid Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ gained momentum through a a u ın the support it received from the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n and k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n, so too u a a a u aa ¯ did Sunb¯d work in close collaboration with the Sun-King Khursh¯ of the Al-i a ıd 2552 J¯m¯sp, a dynasty known as the G¯vb¯rih or Cow Devotees. a a a a Not coincidentally, as we have seen, all the Parthian dynasts had placed themselves under the rule of this same Khursh¯ (734–759).2553 Finally, as Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ carried a ıd a u ın name literally signifying victory (Bahr¯m),2554 this same epithet was carried by a Sunb¯d, the p¯r¯z sp¯hbed, literally, the victorious sp¯hbed. In analogy with the a ıu a a epithet of Man¯chihr’s father, M¯ u ıshkhury¯r, that is to say, one whose constant a companion is the sun,2555 moreover, it has been conjectured that the etymology of the very name of the rebel, Sunb¯d, derives from zunbad, meaning guardian a of the sun. The Mithraic purview of Sunb¯d’s rebellion, therefore, must be a deemed certain. 6.4.4 Gentilitial background of Sunb¯d a

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page 377. §4.5. 2554 See page 411. 2555 Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 67. ı 2556 Niz¯m al-Mulk 1941, pp. 260–261. .a 2557 Uyun 1869, Kit¯b al- Uy¯n wa ’l-Had¯ iq fi ’l-Akhb¯r al-Haq¯ iq, Leiden, 1869, translated by a u a . a . a M.J. de Goeje (Uyun 1869), p. 224.
2553 See

2552 See

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While the motifs of Ab¯ Muslim’s treasury and revenge loom large in Sunb¯d’s u a narrative, the independent wealth of this historical ﬁgure is also highlighted in some of our accounts. Some sources underline the high administrative and/or military function of Sunb¯d in N¯ ap¯r prior to his revolt. Niz¯m al-Mulk, a ısh¯ u .a for example, calls him a chief (ra¯s) of N¯ ap¯r and claims that he was an ı ısh¯ u old acquaintance of Ab¯ Muslim (bar Ab¯ Muslim haqq-i . uhbat-i qad¯m d¯sht), u u s . ı a . whom the latter had appointed commander of the army (sipahs¯l¯r).2556 Now aa the title sipahs¯l¯r is the equivalent of the title of sp¯hbed. The anonymous aa a Kit¯b al- Uy¯n wa ’l-Had¯ iq fi ’l-Akhb¯r al-Haq¯ iq reiterates Sunb¯d’s acquisia u a a . a . a tion of the title sp¯hbed, maintaining that after Sunb¯d launched his revolt and a a conquered N¯ ap¯r, Q¯mis and Rayy, he came to be called, as we have seen, ısh¯ u u f¯r¯z isbahbudh (victorious sp¯hbed).2557 If our information is to be trusted in ıu . a this case, then Sunb¯d was presumably the sp¯hbed of the east, or part of the a a east. We can therefore surmise that Sunb¯d was of a high enough status in the a region to warrant him the his acquisition of the title and position of sp¯hbed. a As we have seen, ever since its institution by Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, the ofﬁce ırv¯

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Mihr¯nid downfall being the exception; see §3.4.4. a folio 59. For the story of B¯y¯b¯d, also see Ibn al-Ath¯ 1862, vol. 5, p. 258. u a a ır 2560 See §3.4.7. 2561 See our discussion on page 271ff.
2559 N¯ ap¯ r¯ 1965, ısh¯ u ı

2558 The

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of sp¯hbed in the quarters of the north and the east of the Sasanian empire was a almost always held by Parthian dynastic families. After the Arab conquest of Iran, moreover, the dynamic between the conquering and conquered populations of these regions was such that creating status in the post-conquest period, where no such status existed during the Sasanian period, was basically out of the question. Considering the dearth of Arab juridical, executive, and material presence in these regions, and in the absence of any indication whatsoever of an upheaval in the sociopolitical structure of these regions,2558 the agnatic nature of the political, social, and religious afﬁliations of the Parthian dynasts must be considered a constant in the post-conquest period. Except for the disappearance of the Sasanians from the center, whose presence was, nevertheless, continued ¯ in the Al-i J¯m¯sp family in the north, and except for the age old re-shufﬂing a a of power among the Parthian dynastic families, very little had changed in the wake of the Arab conquest of the quarters of the east and north. Sunb¯d’s social a standing, therefore, suggests that he must have come from an agnatic Parthian family, probably, as we shall argue, the K¯rins. a There are two traditions concerning the activities of Ab¯ Muslim in N¯ u ısh¯p¯r, before he launched the Abb¯sid revolution, within which one might a u a attempt to contextualize the possible acquaintance of Sunb¯d with Ab¯ Muslim, a u however transitory this relation. The earlier tradition is given in an anecdotal garb by N¯ ap¯r¯ in the Ta r¯kh-i N¯s¯b¯r and is representative of the mostly ısh¯ u ı ı ıa u hostile traditions regarding the Abb¯sid revolution and Ab¯ Muslim in Inner a u Khur¯s¯n. In this narrative N¯ ap¯r¯ informs us that when Ab¯ Muslim came aa ısh¯ u ı u to N¯ ap¯r and declared his imminent intention of conquering all of Khur¯s¯n, ısh¯ u aa “some half-witted juveniles cut the tail of his ass.” When Ab¯ Muslim saw this, u he asked: “What is the name of this quarter?” They said: “The quarter of B¯y¯u a b¯d [literally the smelly quarter].” In anger, Ab¯ Muslim retorted that he would a u soon turn this quarter into the quarter of Gand¯b¯d (literally the foul quarter). a a After he became the governor of Khur¯s¯n, Ab¯ Muslim, true to his word, aa u destroyed the quarter of B¯y¯b¯d, which “was never reconstructed again.”2559 u a a Typical for the traditions in which the Abb¯sids did not ﬁnd any support in a Inner Khur¯s¯n, this tradition of N¯ ap¯r¯ highlights the antagonism of at aa ısh¯ u ı least part of the population of N¯ ap¯r against Ab¯ Muslim. ısh¯ u u This narrative resonates with that of the Arab conquest of the Parthian territories of Inner Khur¯s¯n, especially the conquest of Tus and N¯ ap¯r in the aa ısh¯ u .¯ 650s.2560 There too, we recall, while the Parthian Kan¯rang¯ an family, in cola ıy¯ laboration with the Ispahbudh¯n family of Farrukhz¯d, made peace with the a a Arab armies in exchange for remaining the de facto rulers of the territories, a faction of the N¯ ap¯r¯ population opposed both the Arab armies as well as ısh¯ u ı the Kan¯rang¯ an family. This faction, we recall, was led by the K¯rins.2561 The a ıy¯ a

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1984, p. 90. For Humayd b. Qahtabah, see Crone 1980, pp. 188–189. . .. 2004. 2564 Pourshariati 1995, Chapter 1. 2565 Tars¯ s¯ Ab¯ T¯hir Al¯ b. Husayn, Ab¯ Muslim N¯ma, Tehran, nd (Tars¯ s¯ nd), p. 635. u .a ı u a . u ı, . . uı 2566 Qazvini 1984, p. 89. Minorsky 1964, p. 273. See our discussion on page 271ff. 2567 See for instance, page 277ff and §4.5.1.
2563 Pourshariati

2562 Qazvini

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narrative of Ab¯ Muslim’s hostile reception in N¯ ap¯r, therefore, reﬂects a u ısh¯ u tradition that betrays opposition to the Abb¯sids and Ab¯ Muslim in parts of a u the city. The question then becomes the provenance of this narrative. In order to contextualize this we have access to a second narrative contained in the Sh¯hn¯ma-i Ab¯ Mansuri. Here we are informed that, after the Arab conquest, a a u .¯ the region of Tus and parts of N¯ ap¯r remained under the control of the ısh¯ u .¯ Kan¯rang¯ an family until the takeover of the region by Humayd b. Qahtabah a ıy¯ . .. b. T¯ ¯ one of the foremost generals of the Abb¯sid army.2562 As we have a . a ı, discussed in detail elsewhere,2563 the narratives at our disposal here betray not ısh¯ u only the sociopolitical structure of rule in Inner Khur¯s¯n, in Tus and N¯ ap¯r aa .¯ speciﬁcally, on the eve of the Abb¯sid revolution, but also the intense Abb¯a a sid struggle against the Umayyads in Inner Khur¯s¯n.2564 The Abb¯sids had to aa a reckon with the power of the Kan¯rang¯ an family, a Parthian dynastic family a ıy¯ who perceptively realized that, after a rule of more than half a millennium, the end of the nominal control of the Umayyads over their territories meant also the demise of their own de facto power in these territories. The antagonism of a the Tus¯ toward the Abb¯sids is even highlighted in the later popular tradi. ¯ ıs tions contained in the epic-historic narratives of the Ab¯ Muslim N¯ma—hence u a the historicity of the germ of these traditions contained in the epic—where we are informed that the one Abb¯sid d¯ ¯ (missionary) assigned to Tus was unsuca aı .¯ cessful in winning the population of the region to the cause of the Abb¯sids.2565 a From the Arab conquest of Inner Khur¯s¯n to the end of the Umayyad rule, aa a ıy¯ besides their control over Tus, the Kan¯rang¯ an had undisputed control only .¯ over parts of N¯ ap¯r, the K¯rins being their hostile adversaries.2566 We must ısh¯ u a also recollect the episodic insurgencies led by the K¯rins against both the Arab a conquerors and the other dynastic powers in some parts of Khur¯s¯n and N¯ aa ısh¯p¯r, underlining their continued aspirations, which, however, remained prea u dominantly unfulﬁlled.2567 And thus we come to a second tradition concerning Ab¯ Muslim and the positive reception that he receives in parts of N¯ ap¯r at u ısh¯ u the inception of the Abb¯sid revolution. This tradition, we shall argue, is most a probably of K¯rinid provenance. a This other tradition stands in stark contrast to the one discussed above and actually reﬂects a very positive historical memory about Ab¯ Muslim’s associau tion with N¯ ap¯r. No half-witted juvenile cuts the tail of his beast here! This ısh¯ u tradition is contained in a later source, M¯ ırkhw¯nd, who wrote in the ninth a century hijra (14–15th century CE). According to this tradition, Sunb¯d, who a was one of the wealthy (fi ’l-jumlih miknat¯ d¯sht) ﬁre worshippers of N¯ aı a ısh¯ p¯r, saw Ab¯ Muslim when the latter, coming from the Im¯m, was heading for u u a

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§6.4: S UNBAD C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

Marv. Sunb¯d, according to M¯ a ırkhw¯nd, saw the signs of statesmanship and a prosperity (¯thar-i dowlat va iqb¯l) in Ab¯ Muslim’s appearance, took him to a a u his own abode and asked him about his future undertakings.2568 Initially reluctant, Ab¯ Muslim ﬁnally revealed his secrets to the wealthy magian of the city. u This, then, is the way in which Sunb¯d is said to have become acquainted with a the Abb¯sid revolutionary leader Ab¯ Muslim al-Marwaz¯ a u ı. Unlike our previous narrative, moreover, this account betrays a separate provenance. Here we are not dealing with a negative reception of the Abb¯a sid leader, but one in which a harmonious, positive collaboration is depicted. The provenance of this second narrative, in other words, must be sought alongu side those traditions which, like Niz¯m al-Mulk’s, claim, for example, that Ab¯ .a Muslim appointed Sunb¯d as the sp¯hbed of his army, presumably in Inner Khua a r¯s¯n. By now it must be clear how we view what must have transpired and aa hence what the provenance of the respective narratives is. While, as our second narrative betrays, there was most probably a historic dimension to Sunb¯d’s a collaboration with the Abb¯sids, this must be contextualized in the conﬁnes a of the inter-Parthian dynastic rivalries that continued to engulf the quarters of the north and the east throughout the Umayyad period, and not in a presumed conversion of Sunb¯d and his followers to the cause of the Abb¯sid revolua a tionaries. While the Kan¯rang¯ an had lost power in Inner Khur¯s¯n with the a ıy¯ aa advent of the Abb¯sids to power, another dynastic group must have gained by a the victorious launching of the Abb¯sid revolution. a As the Kan¯rang¯ an had, in fact, only recently lost power at the hands of a ıy¯ the Abb¯sid army and their foremost general Humayd b. Qahtabah, Sunb¯d’s a a . .. dynastic background cannot be sought in the ranks of this deposed dynastic family: Why collaborate, however nominally, with an emerging power that had destroyed one’s family fortune just recently? While Sunb¯d collaborated with a ¯ the Al-i J¯m¯spid Khursh¯ we should recall that he was actually murdered by a a ıd, another member of this same family.2569 The tenor of the whole story of his
2568 Sunb¯d then prognosticated that his instincts had told him (mar¯ az tar¯q-i fir¯sat chin¯n bih a a . ı a a kh¯. ir m¯resad) that Ab¯ Muslim would one day overturn the land and “would kill many from at ı u among the elite of the Arabs and the great Iranians (ashr¯f-i arab va ak¯bir-i ¯jam)” M¯ a a a ırkhw¯nd a 1960, pp. 404–405. Zarrinkub cites this story of M¯ ırkhw¯nd as a later narration, adopted from a popular myths, about the manner of the acquaintance of Sunb¯d and Ab¯ Muslim. This narrative, a u he suggests, is taken out from later Ab¯ Muslim N¯mas written subsequent to Ab¯ Muslim’s death: u a u “the interesting point is that this story does not exist in earlier sources and it seems as if later sources [adopted it from] the myths and stories of the Persian Ab¯ Muslim N¯ma.” Zarrinkub, Abd u a al-Husayn, Dow Qarn Sok¯t, 1989, reprinted in German (Zarrinkub 1989). As we are attempting u to show, here, however, the late Zarrinkub’s distrust of the germ of this tradition was not valid. This story is also given in the later Ta r¯kh Alf¯. According to this source, Sunb¯d was a citizen of ı ı a N¯ ap¯r. At the time of the disturbances in Khur¯s¯n, he incited the people of N¯ ap¯r to revolt ısh¯ u aa ısh¯ u and encouraged them to kill the noble Arabs and the aristocratic Iranians. According to Daniel, Sunb¯d’s “speeches attracted the attention of Ab¯ Muslim, who was very pleased by them and who a u decided to cultivate Sunb¯d’s friendship. Sunb¯d and his brother wore black, provided the Abbasid a a rebels with supplies, and received assistance in ﬁghting the Arabs.” Daniel 1979, p. 126. 2569 See §4.5.2.

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C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS §6.5: C ONCLUSION

murder, moreover, strongly suggests that he could not have been a member of this dynastic family either. Considering the thematic context of Ibn Isfand¯ ar’s narrative—where the ıy¯ story of Sunb¯d and his rebellion against Mansur is narrated immediately after a .¯ the story of the rise of the K¯rins to power, and where the theme of their ara ¯ rogance against the Al-i J¯m¯sp, under whose theoretical suzerainty they fell, is a a highlighted2570 —and considering the history of the dynastic rivalries within the region during the previous centuries, it is very probable, therefore, that from the two remaining Parthian dynastic families, the Ispahbudh¯n and the K¯rin, a a Sunb¯d actually belonged to the K¯rin family. There is no reason to assume a a that the rivalry between the Kan¯rang¯ an and the K¯rins in Inner Khur¯s¯n a ıy¯ a aa had subsided during the century that had elapsed. In fact, as we have seen,2571 once before, with the murder of Farrukhz¯d and their revolt in Inner Khur¯a a s¯n, the K¯rins had already attempted to regain their lost power. While at the a a beginning of the conquest the power of the K¯rins had declined at the expense a of the Kan¯rang¯ an in the region, moreover, there is every possibility that the a ıy¯ Abb¯sids also availed themselves of the dynastic rivalries within the region, and a having toppled the Kan¯rang¯ an, once again brought the K¯rins back to power. a ıy¯ a ¯ The K¯rins’ tumultuous relationship with the Al-i J¯m¯sp, moreover, ﬁts very a a a ¯ well with the uneasy relationship between Sunb¯d and the Al-i J¯m¯sp Khura a a 2572 ¯ sh¯ ıd. This uneasy relationship of the K¯rins, now with the Al-i J¯m¯sp, and a a a ¯ then with the Al-i B¯vand,2573 continued to mark the dynamics between these a dynastic powers in the region. There is every indication, therefore, that of all the possible candidates for the agnatic background of Sunb¯d, the K¯rins are a a the most likely contenders. This background, however, seems to have become obscured as a result of the strength of a more powerful legend that in later centuries was superimposed on the ﬁgure of Sunb¯d: his problematic connection a to Ab¯ Muslim. u

6.5

Conclusion

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§4.5.1. page 307. 2572 For the K¯rins in Tabarist¯n, see §4.2 and §4.5.1. a a . 2573 Unfortunately, considerations of time and space have not allowed us to follow this latter relationship in more detail.
2571 See

2570 See

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The revolts erupting in the Parthian homelands at the inception of the rise of the Abb¯sids to power testify not only to the continued currency of Mihr wora ship, but the persistent aspirations of the Parthians in the northern territories of Iran. Our evidence for the forceful prevalence of Mihr worship, as we have hoped to have shown, is in fact overwhelming. Leaving the late Sadighi at a loss, it is rather evident that Bih¯far¯ revolt was actually a Mithraic revolt. a ıd’s The accounts at our disposal clearly betray the Mithraic motifs of his rebellion, the narratives of the rebel ascribing to Bih¯far¯ the role of Mihr himself. a ıd

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§6.5: C ONCLUSION C HAPTER 6: R EVOLTS

Considering the currency of millennial beliefs in Bih¯far¯ milieu, moreover, a ıd’s as well his clear prophetic and messianic mission, we can probably also conﬁdently maintain that included in the platform of the rebel was a prognostication for the end of Arab rule. That Mazdean millennial calculations did not tally with the timing of Bih¯far¯ rebellion, as the late Sadighi argued, does a ıd’s not detract from these claims. For as we know, and as reﬂected in the Bundahishn itself, there were many different millennial calculations current among the Iranian populations at this period. Sunb¯d’s historic saga, as well as the a topoi of his narrative, leave no doubt that his too was a Mithraic rebellion. In fact, it is in Sunb¯d’s narrative that we most clearly see the incredible continua ity of Mithraic beliefs in Pahlav regions from the rebellion of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın onward. While the personal background of Bih¯far¯ is shrouded in obscurity, morea ıd over, and while in fact a Parthian dynastic background might be a less likely conjecture for this Mihr worshipping rebel, there is every possibility that in the rebellion of Sunb¯d, the ispahbud p¯r¯z, we are in fact witnessing a Parthian a ıu rebellion, probably of the K¯rin dynastic family. While this claim can only be a postulated, given the information at our disposal, however, it gains tremendous force when considered in conjunction with the later rebellion of the Parthian K¯rinid M¯z¯ ar, and his close association with the Azarb¯yj¯n¯ rebel, B¯bak-i a a ıy¯ a a ı a Khurramd¯ who, incidentally, also launched a Mithraic rebellion. While we ın must postpone an investigation into these latter rebellions for a sequel to this study, therefore, considering what has already been said of the history of the Pahlav dynasts in the late antique period, and with historical hindsight, we can conﬁdently claim that Parthian political and cultural presence in the northern regions of Iran continued for an inordinate amount of time after the demise of the house of S¯s¯n. The currency of Parthian agnatic genealogies in the tenth aa century gives us an incredible vista into the contribution of the Pahlav to Iranian history and culture throughout the late antique, early medieval period.

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Conclusion

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2574 The momentous Encyclopaedia Iranica project has provided a much needed respite in the midst of all this. 2575 As all are aware, the heritage of modern Europe has been sought in classical antiquity. 2576 See, for instance, Russell, James R., ‘Review of Yamauchi’s Persia and the Bible’, Jewish Quarterly 83, (1992), pp. 256–261 (Russell 1992), pp. 256–258.

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urther investigation into the currents of Near Eastern studies during the past half century is sure to expose its scholarly predisposition. It is not clear why, exactly, systematic studies of late antique history of Iran were put on the shelf after Christensen’s authoritative studies. Not to be misconstrued, there have been many individual scholars who have made signiﬁcant contributions to the ﬁeld. Unfortunately, however, as any impartial and cursory inquiry will reveal, their efforts have been against the current and therefore not successful in changing trends in late antique studies of the Middle East.2574 There has been a systematic neglect of this and the subsequent late antique, early medieval period of Iranian history, and no matter how we justify it, there is no denying it. This trend can be partially explained by the long history of hegemony exerted by classical studies, which have been part and parcel of the birth of modern historiography. Delving into this, however, is to point to the obvious.2575 There is then the Arabist and Islamist predisposition of the ﬁeld. Disregarding the explicable nineteenth and early twentieth century history of this current in the ﬁeld2576 —coming as it does in the wake of the direct colonial and imperial history of Europe in the Arab Middle-East—we still need to reckon with the void left in late antique studies of Iran during the past half century. The discourse of nationalist Iranian scholars of the past two generations, some of whom tenaciously, and at times belligerently, underlined the Iranian contribution to the early medieval history of the Middle East, has also been partly responsible for the subsequent scholarly disregard of the history of Iran during this period. It created a defensive backlash in the ﬁeld in which any subsequent scholarly effort towards highlighting the Iranian dimension of late antique history of the Middle East became more or less suspect. In this climate, one can scarcely discuss any dimension of Iranian history in a positive light without being accused by some of Iranian cultural chauvinism. This trend is unfortunate and must be remedied. Sound scholarship must not be censored and suffocated, irrespective of

F

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C ONCLUSION the implications of its ﬁnding. There was then the Iranian revolution of 1978– 79, which prompted the creation of an army of modernists and Islamicists in Iranian studies. Valuable as this scholarly surge has been, it has served to further undermine late antique and medieval history of Iran in recent scholarship. The picture drawn by Christensen of the Sasanian empire left numerous crucial questions unanswered. Above all there remained one critical, perplexing, question: in the span of two decades and in spite of its tremendous power, why did one of the two most powerful empires of late antiquity succumb so rapidly and disastrously into obliteration? The social, ideological, and political trends brieﬂy enumerated above conspired to detract scholarly attention from this crucial question of late antique history of Iran. Arabist and Islamicist concerns have absorbed the lion’s share of academic attention. It was fortunate that the Abb¯sid revolution redirected scholarly attention to northeastern Iran. a Even here, however, it was not the details of Iranian sociopolitical history in the post-conquest century that became the focus of scholarship.2577 In numerous scholarly works on the topic, brief introductory chapters dealt away with the history of Iran during the Sasanian and Umayyad periods, only to focus their attention on the northeastern territories of Iran in order to dissect the enigma of Ab¯ Muslim and his followers. Crucial questions such as conversion and u the course of Iranian history during the Umayyad period were either accepted a priori, with very little investigation, as remains the case with the question of conversion, or were not dealt with altogether. The later medieval history of Iran has not fared any better in recent decades.2578 The dearth of scholarship on these crucial periods of Iranian history to this day remains truly astounding. Foremost among the intended aims of the present work, therefore, has been a plea to the students and scholars of the ﬁeld to reconsider the lackadaisical manner in which scholarship has treated the late antique and early medieval history of Iran. As we have hoped to have shown in the course of the present study, Iranian history in the period under investigation provides a treasure trove of venues for research, not least of which might have revolutionary implications for the paradigmatic narrative of the origins of Islamic history itself. After Christensen, scholarship became unduly obsessed with his paradigm of a centralized Sasanian state. There was perhaps an unrecognized ideological locomotive at work here as well. It might be justiﬁably postulated that the romanticized myth of the nation, summoned by the nineteenth and twentieth century conceptions of modern European nation-states, also affected Christensen’s implicit ideological assumptions in his study of the Sasanian empire. These theories conceived of centralized modern European states as the epitome of
our discussion in §6.2.2. this day substantive accounts of the histories of the T¯hirids and the Samanids are nowhere .a to be found in western languages. Bosworth’s monographs on S¯ an and Mottahedeh’s work on ıst¯ the Buyids have not been supplemented by further studies. And, after the pioneering efforts of Minorsky on the Caucasus and Azarb¯yj¯n, not a single work on this region’s history in late antiquity a a has appeared.
2578 To 2577 See

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C ONCLUSION rationally constructed political organizations that engendered, besides national identity, all other benevolent aspects and directions of human sociopolitical organization.2579 In this conception, one might argue, a decentralized state was considered an inferior state, not capable of rationally mustering all its forces for ameliorating the conditions of its realm. The intimate connection of decentralization with various forms of feudal or semi-feudal, hence pre-modern, economic and political structures, further underlined the presumed shortcomings of decentralized states. So paradigmatic has this equation of centralization with a more advanced form of political organization become that its marks can be felt on the scholarship on other periods of Iranian and early Islamic history as well. Even the recent revival in Parthian studies, for example, has not remained immune to it: the question of whether or not, and at which point, and to what extent, we can consider the Parthians as being more centralized, and thus implicitly more modern, and in better control of the diverse polities within their realm, has continued to form a bone of contention in the ﬁeld.2580 In the case of the Sasanian state, however, there is surely no reason to continue to presume the equation of centralization with the proper functioning of their government. In order to make our case for the dynastic and decentralized nature of the Sasanian state, and while detailing its systematic confederacy with the Parthians, we were obliged to underline those dimensions of this system which made it prone to dysfunction. All with some familiarity with Iran’s late antique history will recognize, however, that this is only one side of the picture. For the reverse side of the argument has always been implicit in the picture that we have tried to present in this study, namely that it was precisely because of their decentralized form of government and their confederacy with the Parthians, that the Sasanians became as powerful as they did during the late antique period. The Sasanians could not have functioned, and would not have been able to maintain power for as long as they did, had it not been for their active alliance with the Pahlav dynasties. For the most part, therefore, and in spite of the tensions inherent in it, the decentralized Sasanian political structure was remarkably efﬁcient. It was in fact to the credit of the Sasanians that they acknowledged the sociopolitical and regional centrifugal tendencies embedded in their realm, and set up a system that gave due credit to the realities of Iran in the late antique centuries. In a sense, one might argue that, as with other aspects of their rule, the Sasanians in fact followed the Parthian heritage here as well, and not just during the third century. Just as various Parthian families had agreed to the kingship of the Arsacids, their later history notwithstanding, so
2579 Elwell Sutton’s obituary of Christensen provides interesting clues about the scholar’s political orientation. See Sutton, L.P. Elwell, ‘Arthur Emanuel Christensen’, Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies 10, (1983), pp. 59–68 (Sutton 1983). Needless to say, none of this is meant to downplay, by any means, the tremendous debt that Iranian studies owes to the works of this towering Danish scholar. 2580 This perspective has also affected various theories advanced about the emergence of an Islamic state after the death of the Prophet.

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C ONCLUSION too they came to agree to the kingship of the Sasanians through most of Sasanian history. Had it not been for the irrational attempts of Qub¯d and Khusa row I at reforming this system with the aim of augmenting monarchical power and establishing an étatiste state, the Sasanians would have, in all probability, never experienced the series of Parthian rebellions that shook their realm in the late sixth century. Khusrow II, who owed his very power to the agreement of the Parthians, especially the Ispahbudh¯n family, was able to recreate the ima perial Achaemenid boundaries with the help, predominantly,2581 of the armies that the Parthian dynasts continued to bring to bear in his campaigns against the Byzantines. The fate of the Sasanians in the “greatest war of antiquity” is in fact a telling testimony to the consequences of Parthian withdrawal of their confederacy from the Sasanians: the sudden and utter defeat of the Sasanian military endeavors against their recently defeated foes, the Byzantines. The fate of Khusrow II might have been very different had he paid heed to the desire of the Parthian dynasts for peace after three decades of internecine warfare. His blind pursuit of imperialistic aims against the Byzantines, however, led the Parthian dynasts to the bosom of the enemy, with the result that important Parthian families made their peace with the shrewd Heraclius. The Sasanian dynasty, according to James Russell, “has often been presented as consistently intolerant in matters of religion, partly for ease of contrast with its predecessors and probably also to make the Islamic conquest of Iran somehow justiﬁable.”2582 Indeed, the scholarship that has leapt from the Arab conquest and its rapid success to the Abb¯sid revolution and its central premise of cona version to an egalitarian Islam, needed as its foundation the topos of a religiously intolerant, doctrinally static, Zoroastrian church, in order to explain the conquest and set the stage for the Abb¯sids. Not integrating the results of the last a two decades of scholarship on Sasanian religious history, and in view of the dearth of actual scholarship on conversion, this theme of Islamic redemption of the Iranian masses, in other words, needed the image of a suffocating Zoroastrian church in order to uphold it. It needed, furthermore, to uncritically accept the Sasanian ideological topos of religion and state as the “twin pillars of government.” If the Iranian masses were not suffocating under the yoke of an oppressive Zoroastrian church that acted in concert with the Sasanian state, after all, how could one possibly argue for the speedy and mass conversion of Iranians from their centuries-old ancestral beliefs to a barely formed religious doctrine? If the Iranians freely exercised their spiritual beliefs in a religious landscape that was not doctrinally and structurally hegemonic, centralized, and uniform, why convert? Conveniently set aside was the hallmark of spiritual identity among Iranians: in every variety of Iranian religion, ethnicity was closely

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2581 Zeev Rubin’s theory on the barbarization of the standing Sasanian army has to be reckoned with here. Rubin 1995, p. 285. 2582 Russell 1990a, p. 181. Emphasis added.

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C ONCLUSION intertwined with ancestral beliefs.2583 Conveniently forgotten, as well, was the agnatic dimension of the Iranian religious experience, where religious practices, rituals, and narratives also had a regional dimension. Perhaps herein lies one of ¯ the causes behind the emergence and growth of the Shu ubiya movement, once a substantial group of Iranians and the elite sectors of their society had in fact ¯ converted. The Shu ubiya assuaged their guilt of conversion to a non-ethnic religion by insisting on the disassociation of the former links between ethnicity and religion—taunted this time, ironically, by the Arabs—even while they continued to promote their identity in ethnic terms.2584 During the past two decades, the numerous blindspots of this Sasanian topos of monarchical–clerical cooperation has been, again and again, explicated. It is time to come up to speed with the results of this research. The religious panorama of the Sasanian realm was far more complex, layered, and multifaceted than it has been hitherto admitted by the scholars of early Islamic history. Perhaps one of the most important dimensions of this rich religious landscape, moreover, was the prevalence of Mihr worship among a number of powerful Parthian dynastic families and the populace living in their realms, in the quarters of the east (k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n) and north (k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n) of the u aa u a a a Sasanian domains.2585 To this we must add the rich pre-Christian religious traditions of Armenia, themselves strongly inﬂuenced by Iranian Mazdean systems of belief, but especially, by Mithraic traditions.2586 Taking into account the naturally slow process of conversion in Armenia as elsewhere, this meant that during the late antique period, Mihr worship was one of the most signiﬁcant forms of religiosity in a territory that stretched from Khur¯s¯n, to Tabarist¯n aa a . and G¯ an, and further to the west into Azarb¯yj¯n and Armenia. The P¯rıl¯ a a a s¯ ıg–Pahlav dichotomy in Iran, therefore, translated itself also into the realm of spirituality in the late antique period. Apart from its highly ethical and moralistic dimensions, the Mithraic ideology also had the potential for being an ideology of subversion and dissent. Mihr worship was not, as it has been often characterized, nature worship. As the God of contracts and as the quintessential instrument for implementing justice, Mihr equipped its adherents with a powerful weapon in times of hardship, crisis, and uncertainty. It was perhaps the backbone of the Iranian Circle of Justice theory of government.2587 As such, it formed one of the most forceful ideological and social mechanisms with the aid of which one could rebel against oppressive governments. And thus, in rebellion after rebellion in the Pahlav lands, we ﬁnd not some abstract precepts of a monolithic Mazdean religious ideology at work, but
2583 Among Islamicists, and besides Minorsky, Crone was one of the few who paid attention to this aspect of Iranian identity. 2584 Pourshariati 2000. We are well aware that among the anti-Shu ubiya, there were those of Iranian ¯ ancestry. This, however, is a moot point, that we hope to address in a future study. 2585 See §5.4. 2586 See §5.4.4. 2587 See §5.2.6.

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C ONCLUSION the very speciﬁc tenets and symbolism of Mihr worship. In a crucial juncture of Iranian history and, in the face of Parthian pretension and political power in the Pahlav regions, the Sasanian king P¯ uz attempted to launch his own religioır¯ ¯ ¯ political platform. He promoted the powers of the Adhar Gushnasp and Adhar Farnbagh ﬁres, and emphasized Sasanian legitimacy by connecting the ancestry of the dynasty to the Kay¯nids.2588 In response, the K¯rins redacted the very a a segments of P¯ uz’s reign in the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag history: they infused the narraır¯ a a tives of his reign with K¯rinid grandeur and wrapped the story of P¯ uz in the a ır¯ Mithraic symbolism of their creed.2589 Like Mihr, they became the instruments for restoring farr to the king. In line with the Circle of Justice ideology, they accused him of being an unjust king. Adopting the green color of Mihr, they indicted him with the Mithraic charge of reneging the contract and unleashing hardship. The Parthian K¯rins were, undoubtedly, Mihr worshippers.2590 They a highlighted this in their seals when they took refuge in the Burz¯ Mihr ﬁre. ın They used theophoric names that paid tribute to the God they worshipped. What is perhaps most signiﬁcant for our purposes is that in reality, and not as it has been claimed, in ﬁction, the K¯rin dynasty and its cultural traditions cona tinued to exist well into the post-conquest history of Khur¯s¯n and Tabarist¯n, aa a . until at least the ninth century. As we have argued for Sunb¯d,2591 and as we a hope to show in a sequel to this work for M¯z¯ ar, these rebellions formed a a ıy¯ direct continuity with the history of the K¯rins in these territories. a The populist Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ the Mihrewandak and Mihtar-parast rebel, a u ın, was also a Mihr worshipper and articulated this in no uncertain terms in his ideological warfare against Hormozd IV and Khusrow II Parv¯ 2592 The Mihız. r¯nid rebel not only ﬂaunted his Parthian genealogy and legitimacy, but also a gave voice to the resentment of the populace against the Sasanian appointed m¯bads in the Pahlav domains. His historic narratives are infused with mythic o narratives of Mihr worship. The rebel himself forcefully articulated the superiority of his religion; the family, after all, carried the name of their God as their dynastic name. Galvanizing the Pahlav domains with the Mithraic ideology of dissent, his rebellion was on the verge of collapsing Sasanian power had another towering Parthian dynastic family, the Ispahbudh¯n, not come to the a aid of the feeble Khusrow II Parv¯ enlisting the support of the former foes, ız, the Byzantines, in the process.2593 The Parthian dynastic families and their followers were not the only agnatic groups who worshipped Mihr in the northern territories. The Sasanian branch ¯ of the Al-i J¯m¯sp in Tabarist¯n also followed the Mithraic creed.2594 They used a a a .
page 385. page 380ff. 2590 See §5.4.3. 2591 See §6.4.4. 2592 See §6.1, in particular, page 398. 2593 See page 128ff. 2594 See §5.4.1, in particular, page 373ff.
2589 See 2588 See

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C ONCLUSION symbolic names such as Khursh¯ and G¯vb¯rih to render their Mihr spirituıd a a ality. Popular stories depicting their ancestor atop a Mithraic ox, circulated in their territories. The rebel who was their cohort against the newly established Abb¯sid caliphate, Sunb¯d, the victorious (Verethragn¯) ispahbud, was working a a a within the same spiritual universe. Sunb¯d’s narrative was, in fact, a Mithraic a narrative, following in its accounts the apocalyptic tales of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın and the Padhashkhw¯rgar Sh¯h Kai Bahr¯m.2595 Sunb¯d’s alleged desire for rea a a a venge of Ab¯ Muslim’s murder was nothing more than a Mithraic topos inserted u into the saga of this Mithraic hero. Niz¯m al-Mulk’s post facto rendition of the .a picture notwithstanding, there was, therefore, very little connection between Sunb¯d and Ab¯ Muslim, and in all probability, next to no synthesis of Islamic a u and Mazdean propaganda in the doctrines that Sunb¯d promoted. Destroying a the Ka ba, yes. But the promotion of al-rid¯ min ¯l-i Muhammad, unlikely! It is, a .a . in fact, a reﬂection of the subtleties with which ancient practices persevere and take on a new color, that Ab¯ Muslim (the father of the Muslims) found his way u into the mythic narratives of Mihr worshippers. Mihr worship also provided the spiritual context of the green-clad Prophet Bih¯far¯ 2596 His followers knelt a ıd. before the sun as their qibla. Like Mihr and his right hand aid, Sor¯sh, Bih¯far¯ u a ıd appeared at dawn from atop a mountain or a higher structure. And reﬂecting the nourishing functions of Mihr, preached to the peasants, albeit his message, contained in a holy book in Persian, and thus totally anathema to a Muslim audience, addressed mercantile interests. As we shall try to establish in a sequel to this study, there is very little doubt as well that the rebellion of B¯bak Khurramd¯ was a Mithraic rebellion, a ın the rebel being probably of Parthian ancestry himself. Widengren had long ago already identiﬁed the Mithraic rituals of the B¯bakiya,2597 a fascinating study a which was again conveniently ignored by subsequent meagre scholarship on the rebel. Further symbolic reﬂections of B¯bak’s Mihr worship infuse other a accounts of his rebellion. From Khur¯s¯n to Azarb¯yj¯n and Armenia, thereaa a a fore, in an extensive territory, the God Mihr was exalted above other deities in late antique Iranian history. These regions also remained immune from incursions of an alien culture well into subsequent centuries. Herein lies therefore testimony to the continuity and pervasiveness of Mihr worship in Parthian domains through successive centuries, a testimony which ought to be reckoned with when we search for the provenance of Mihr worship in Roman Mithraism. While it is true that in their ofﬁcial patronage of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traa a dition the Sasanians virtually deleted the history of the Arsacid dynasty from their accounts, cutting it to half of its actual duration, and manipulating it so as to make their own assumption of power coincide with millennial expectations, it is also true that their efforts in deleting the sagas of the Parthian dynastic families from the accounts of the Book of Kings was woefully ineffective. For the
2596 See

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§6.4.1. §6.3.2. 2597 Widengren 1979, passim.

2595 See

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C ONCLUSION Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition gives ample testimony to the editorial manipulation a a and re-writing of Sasanian history by various Pahlav families. It is on account of this Parthian rewriting of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition that as soon as the a a Sasanian section of the Sh¯hn¯ma gains substance, signiﬁcantly, with the reign a a of P¯ uz (459–484), at almost every turn of event, and side-by-side of almost ır¯ every single Sasanian king, we ﬁnd as well the saga of the particular Parthian dynastic family that held control over the king. It is in this sense therefore that the Sh¯hn¯ma becomes a book of kings as much as a book of rebels, an “epic a a of sedition.”2598 What is crucial to note is that this Parthian historiographical tradition was inserted into both the historical (Sasanian) and some of the mythical (Kay¯nid) sections of the Sh¯hn¯ma, predominantly during the Sasaa a a nian period. This, then, must also partly explain the various recensions of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition and the divergences contained therein, observed by a a ¯ the Shu ubiya writer Hamza Isfah¯n¯ 2599 Above and beyond the great intrinsic . . a ı. value of the Sh¯hn¯ma as a source for reconstructing Sasanian history, therea a fore, herein also lies the tremendous importance of the Sasanian sections of the opus: the Sh¯hn¯ma and the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag traditions allow us to follow the a a a a fascinating saga of the Pahlav dynasties in the Sasanian domains. This Parthian role in the transmission of their history, intertwined in the Sasanian accounts of the Sh¯hn¯ma is explained by their real power within the a a Pahlav territories, and even in the center of the empire. There is every reason to assume that in their regional capitals such as Rayy, Gurg¯n, Q¯mis, or a u a a Tus, the various Parthian dynasts of the Mihr¯ns, the K¯rins, the Ispahbud.¯ h¯n, and the Kan¯rang¯ an, held their own courts and their own mechanisms a a ıy¯ for retaining their histories and sagas for future generations. It is on account of the Pahlavs’ tremendous wealth, allowing the preservation of their chivalrous exploits, that the traditionalists of the conquest underlined, for example, the riches that the Arab conquerors obtained from the capital of the Mihr¯ns a in Rayy, and compared these to the booty collected from the Sasanian capital, Ctesiphon (al-Mad¯ in).2600 a Whether the Parthians cultivated their traditions in a written or through an oral tradition, we can as yet not ascertain with any degree of certainty.2601 Whatever the case, there is no doubt that, as the Sh¯hn¯ma bears witness, the a a Pahlav dynasts continued to speak the Parthian language until the end of the Sasanian period and probably for centuries thereafter. When the feeble Sh¯ uır¯ yih Qub¯d sent messengers to his father, Khusrow II Parv¯ J¯l¯ us informed a ız, a ın¯

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1992, passim. comparative analysis of these divergent traditions contained within the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag rea a censions that have come down to us, is sure to yield important results. 2600 See §3.4.4, in particular, page 251. 2601 The fact that our latest written evidence for the Parthian script pertains only to the fourth century is no indication of the non-existence of a later written tradition. Unfortunately, modern archeological investigations of the Pahlav domains are next to nonexistent. There is no telling what future investigations on this neglected and crucial aspect of the pre- and post-conquest history of the Pahlav domains will bring to the fore, were they to be undertaken.
2599 A

2598 Davis

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C ONCLUSION them that he needed to be made privy to the message, “whether it was delivered in the Persian or the Parthian language.”2602 The political and religious P¯rs¯ a ıg– Pahlav dichotomy, therefore, also permeated into the linguistic realm. As the evidence of the Mihr¯ns in the Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯n N¯ma2603 and the Book of Shahra a u ı a var¯z and Khusrow,2604 the K¯rins in the Ay¯dg¯r-i Wuzurgmihr-i B¯khtag¯n,2605 a a a a o a and the Ispahbudh¯n in the B¯vand N¯ma, in which account, presumably, the a a a imploded saga of B¯v (Farrukhz¯d) of the Ispahbudh¯n family was spelled out a a a in more detail,2606 bear witness, the Pahlav systematically preserved their traditions throughout the Sasanian and well into the post-conquest centuries. Add to this the potential that the S¯ an¯ cycle of the Sh¯hn¯ma was promoted by the ıst¯ ı a a S¯rens,2607 and the Parthian inﬂuence becomes pervasive. u Among the various recensions of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition, the Sh¯hn¯a a a a ma of Ferdows¯ remains the most fateful in its retention of historical informaı tion on the Pahlav during the Sasanian period. And it is to the credit of the collectors of the prose Sh¯hn¯ma, as well as Ferdows¯ that some of this ina a ı, formation cannot be found elsewhere. It is on account of this that the Pahlav identities of some of the presumably legendary ﬁgures populating the Sh¯hn¯ma a a can now be established in reference to the recently discovered seals of Gyselen. For when the seals of the sp¯hbeds S¯d-h¯sh and G¯rg¯n from the K¯rin family, a e o o o a and Chihr Burz¯ from the Mihr¯n family were discovered, searching through ın a the secondary sources (the so-called universal histories) left Gyselen stranded in identifying them. Little was it known that Sh¯d¯sh (S¯d-h¯sh), Gorg¯n, e o e o e and S¯ ah-i Burz¯ ım¯ ın—the latter’s name, after a simple synonymic substitution becoming Chihr Burz¯ ın—were all along roaming the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ a a ı. The information in the Sh¯hn¯ma proves to be quite exhaustive, moreover: eva a ery Parthian sp¯hbed from the seals2608 also appears in Ferdows¯ opus as a a ı’s
2602 Ferdows¯ 1971, ı

vol. IX, p. 258, Ferdows¯ 1935, p. 258: ı
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2603 Mas ud¯ maintains that the “genealogy [of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯ b¯ was contained in a separate book.” ¯ ı a u ın] ¯ ı ¯ ı Mas ud¯ 1869, vol. 2, pp. 223–224, Mas ud¯ 1968, p. 270. The book was translated into Arabic by Jabalah b. S¯lim. Christensen 1936, p. 59. a 2604 Of this book, according to Christensen, “we know nothing but its name . . . It would be tempting, however, to see in this book the remote origins of an Arab romance, which existed independently before being incorporated into the collection of A Thousand and One Nights, that is the romance of Umar b. Nu m¯n and his sons.” Christensen 1936, p. 61. a 2605 Bozorgmehr 1971. 2606 Ibn Isfand¯ ar 1941, p. 4. Ibn Isfand¯ ar, it should be mentioned, has not a few unkind words ıy¯ ıy¯ to say about this source. 2607 I am told that to this day, in S¯ an, the S¯ rens are jealously guarding their traditions, refusıst¯ u ing, unfortunately, academe any access to what seems to be a rich ancestral archive. An entry in Wikipedia on the S¯rens is being currently maintained by members of this family. And, if I am not u mistaken, one of the towering ﬁgures of Iranian art history, Dr. Souren Melikian-Chirvani, traces his genealogy to this very important Parthian family. 2608 The one possible exception, in fact, is the seal of the P¯rs¯g sp¯hbed, W¯h-Sh¯buhr, whom a ı a e a

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C ONCLUSION powerful general, either in the post-reform Sasanian narratives of the Sh¯hn¯a a ma, or through the Ctesian method, in its Kay¯nid sections.2609 a In their redaction of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, the Parthian families, like the Sasaa a nians, were bound to embellish some of the exploits of their family members. We can also deduce that they deleted some of their lesser deeds from the pages of the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag history. They attempted to camouﬂage their central ina a volvement in those crucial junctures of Sasanian history that subsequently became a source of embarrassment for the family. It is on account of this that the rebellion of Vist¯hm cannot be found in some of the extant Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a a traditions. Through this mechanism, the complicity of Farrukh Hormozd with the Byzantines against Khusrow II is buried or even lost in some of the accounts at our disposal, unless we consult the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ Through these a a ı. editorial manipulations of the Ispahbudh¯n family, Rustam achieves immortala ity, becoming the penultimate hero of the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ and the suba a ı sequent nationalist psyche. His systematic procrastination in the war against the enemy, his very reluctance to lead his army, and his obstinate pursuit of peace, all of this is eclipsed by his heroic aura in the Sh¯hn¯ma of Ferdows¯ 2610 a a ı. Farrukhz¯d’s rebellion against Yazdgird III is even deleted from the pages of a Sebeos’ narrative and is downplayed in the Sh¯hn¯ma. Incredibly, this towering a a Pahlav ﬁgure subsequently disappears from the pages of all Xw ad¯y-N¯mag nara a ratives. It is a testimony to the primary importance of the theme of Iran in the fut¯h narratives that we have the fortune of following, albeit painstakingly, the u. saga of this Pahlav dynast when he reappears under his bastardized, Arabicized, name Z¯ ı in the accounts of the conquest. And so, only by juxtaposing ınab¯ the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag and the fut¯h traditions, we are apprised of Farrukhz¯d’s a a u. a defection from the Sasanian king and his collaboration with the Arab armies. It is one of the ironies of history that, through this process of redaction, the Ispahbudh¯n inadvertently also erased most traces of their family’s great aca complishments, such as the very name of their progenitor, the great Asparapet, or their creation of an autonomous Tabarist¯n after the Arab conquest by B¯v a a .
we did not attempt to locate in the sources. Nonetheless, following Gyselen, we may postulate a S¯renid descent for this ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i n¯mr¯z; see footnote 840. u ea a u e o 2609 Revisiting the Sh¯hn¯ma as a historical source, therefore, might lead its ardent student to even a a predict the ﬁnd of other seals pertaining to powerful generals of late Sasanian period. One such conjectural seal could belong to an ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed of the k¯st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n by the name of Farrukh ea a u a a a Hormozd (see footnote 806). 2610 It is one of those happenstances of history that in this Rustam seems to be replicating the great deeds of his namesake, the legendary Kay¯nid hero, Rustam, of the national epic, both attempting a to uphold Iranian kingship in spite of its folly. Ironically, by one account, the Rustam cycle in the Sh¯hn¯ma is itself inspired by the deeds of another Parthian general, this time from another family, a a in another epoch, and with a different fate: Orodes II’s (57–38 BCE) general, Surena, whose actual name was Rustaham S¯ren. S¯ren’s defeat of the Roman general and triumvir, Marcus Licinius u u Crassus, at the battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE, effectively established the Euphrates as the border between the Roman and Parthian empires in subsequent centuries. Shahbazi, Shapur, ‘Carrhae’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, 2007b (Shahbazi 2007b).

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C ONCLUSION (another alias of Farrukhz¯d).2611 a The Parthians played a crucial role in the demise of the Sasanians through their agreement with the Arabs, although some among them, such as the Mihr¯ns or the K¯rins, put up ﬁerce resistance. In a sense, from the Arsacid through a a the Umayyad period, the dynamics among the Pahlav dynastic families, and between each of these and the central authorities, had not changed. The crucial dimension of the cooperation of the Pahlav who came to terms with the Arabs— as it was worked into the treatises they made with the conquerors—was the understanding that they would continue to control their realm after the collapse of the Sasanian empire. The demise of the Sasanians, therefore, did not mean the demise of the Parthians. As we shall hope to show in a sequel to this study, it is in this sense that, through their very presence in the post-conquest centuries, the Parthian families promoted the continuity of the Iranian national tradition. The very mechanism through which Ma mar¯ compiled the prose Sh¯hn¯ma ı a a in the tenth century, bears witness to the direct part played by the Parthians in creating one of the very ﬁrst and most important prototypes of the Book a a a u of Kings, the prose Sh¯hn¯ma of Ab¯ Mansur Abdalrazz¯q (Sh¯hn¯ma-i Ab¯ a a u .¯ Mansur¯). It was, after all, the very progeny of the Kan¯rang¯ an, the families a ıy¯ .¯ ı of Abdalrazz¯q2612 and Ma mar¯ who gathered the “dihq¯n¯n, the wise (farz¯a ı, a a a nig¯n) and sagacious (jah¯nd¯dig¯n) men” of the very heartlands of the Pahlav a a ı a regions, Tus and N¯ ap¯r, in order to compose the prose Sh¯hn¯ma.2613 ısh¯ u a a .¯ Parthian genealogical traditions were very much in vogue during the tenth century in the northern and eastern parts of Iran. Leaving aside the genealogical claims of various smaller dynasties that assumed power in G¯ an, Tabarist¯n, ıl¯ . a and Azarb¯yj¯n during this period, not only did the various patrons of the a a Sh¯hn¯ma, Ma mar¯ and Ab¯ Mansur Abdalrazz¯q, claim Parthian heritage by a a ı u a .¯ tracing their ancestry to the Kan¯rang¯ an, but so did the very dynasty under a ıy¯ whose patronage an alleged revival of the Iranian tradition took place, namely, the Samanids, who claimed their descent from none other than the Parthian Mihr¯ns and the emblematic ﬁgure of this family, the rebel Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a a u ın. This they did at a time when the Buyids were claiming Sasanian genealogy and reviving the title of Sh¯h¯nsh¯h, King of Kings. In fact, B¯ un¯ gives ample a a a ır¯ ı evidence of the popularity, as he puts it, of forged genealogical traditions during this period. Forged or not, and even if B¯ un¯ partiality in promoting the ır¯ ı’s ancestral claims of the Buyids were to be denied, there is no doubt that four centuries after the fact, P¯rs¯ a ıg–Pahlav genealogical warfare was still in full sway

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2611 B¯v’s story does not belong to the Sh¯hn¯ma by design, but is found in the T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n, a a a aı a . suggesting that the Xw ad¯y-N¯mag tradition extended beyond Ferdows¯ artiﬁcial conﬁnes to prea a ı’s conquest Iran. The redactional efforts even led in this case to a pseudo-genealogy to the Sasanian Kay¯s. u 2612 B¯ un¯ doubts as to the veracity of the genealogy that this family claimed must be dismissed ır¯ ı’s on account of the political rivalries among the Buyids and the Samanids in the tenth century and the role of the Abdalrazz¯q family in this complex situation. a 2613 From Her¯t and S¯ an, they probably also gathered the wonderfully diverse S¯ an¯ cycle of a ıst¯ ıst¯ ı the Sh¯hn¯ma, a substantial part of which is extant outside the Sh¯hn¯ma. Qazvini 1984, pp. 34–35. a a a a

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C ONCLUSION among the Iranians.2614 In a sense then, one can perhaps argue that there was no such thing as a revival of ancient Iranian traditions during the tenth century, for these had never become extinct to require resurrection in the ﬁrst place. The interlude of the mid-eighth to the tenth centuries, however, has to be further investigated in order to substantiate this last claim. The defeat of the Iranians by the Arabs in the course of the conquest has left a scar on the national Iranian historical memory. This was articulated in no uncertain terms by Ferdows¯ more than a millennium ago, and has been part and ı parcel of the Iranian nationalist discourse to this day. For Ferdows¯ as well as ı for some of the scholars who address this juncture of Iranian history, the Arab conquest of Iran marks a watershed. This is a juncture wherein the pre-Islamic history of Iran is presumed to have ceased, and the history of Islamic Iran to have commenced. This perspective is no longer tenable considering the results of the present study. If substantial Pahlav domains continued to be ruled de facto by Parthian dynasts even after the Arab conquests in the seventh century, then the process of the conquest needs to be reassessed and the dichotomous rendition of this juncture of Iranian history as pre- versus post-Islamic history should be deemed a false dichotomy. The Arab conquests were not the watershed that one has made of them.2615 Shifting paradigms, however, is no easy matter. It might serve us well, therefore, to trust those isolated traditions that do not have the postfacto imprint of Islamic narratives of conquests, and portray the conquests as what conquests have always been in the histories of peoples: access to resources, in this case Arab access to the entrepôts of trade. Once we recognize this, it might be easier to fathom why the Arabs did not migrate en masse to the Iranian plateau and settle in its various territories, and why the Pahlav agreed to the arrangements that we have delineated. The Arab conquest was not a nineteenth-century British colonial endeavor, but an altogether different matter. If we recognize this, moreover, we can more easily understand why the comparatively meagre Arab settlement and colonization that did in fact take place, was not in the length and breadth of the Iranian lands, but mainly in Outer Khur¯s¯n, Transoxiana, and the lands beyond these, just as the Arabs had aa guaranteed the Parthian dynast Rustam.2616 This is perhaps the true meaning of those traditions that maintain that the Arab intentions were honorable.2617 Another, more crucial, leap of faith, however, has been argued in this investigation, a leap that, nevertheless, and in view of the new evidence presented here, must be taken seriously. The early conquest of Iraq did not begin at the inception of the reign of the last Sasanian king, Yazdgird III, in 632, as it is currently believed, but in 628, at a time that was most opportune for it:
2614 There is no doubt that Iranian genealogists vied with Arab genealogist during this period. Ibn Balkh¯ calls the former the Persian genealogists (nass¯b-i P¯rs¯y¯n). Ibn Balkh¯ 1995, p. 11. ı a a ı a ı 2615 Insofar as the colonial dimension of the Arab conquest has been highlighted, we should probably also reckon that our scholarly heritage has a nineteenth-century colonial and imperial context. 2616 For the issue of Arab settlement, see also Pourshariati 1998. 2617 Tabar¯ 1992, p. 68, de Goeje, 2272. ı .

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C ONCLUSION immediately after the devastating Sasanian–Byzantine wars of 30 years, at the end of Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s reign, when, too little too late, the powers of late ır¯ a antiquity realized in fact that “from the Arab regions strong winds were blowing.” The interregnum period of 628–632 was a time of utter confusion. As troops had been dispersed in the wake of the Byzantine–Sasanian war, resulting in the formation of three distinct armies of the Sasanian empire, and as the P¯ra s¯ ıg–Pahlav rivalry had intensiﬁed, the perfect power vacuum had been created in Syria, in Iraq, as well as on the Iranian plateau. The Arabs naturally took advantage of this chaotic situation. After we delete what we know to be the postfacto hijra, annalist, and caliphal chronological constructions of the fut¯h u. literature, Sayf’s traditions of the early conquest of Iraq synchronize perfectly well with the one chronological given that scholarship had hitherto systematically refused to reckon with: the Sasanian chronological indicators of the reigns of the ephemeral kings and queens of the period 628–632 CE. After all, as Balam¯ informs us, Muhammad’s ﬂight from Mecca to Medina (the hijra) did not ı . become the calendar landmark of choice for all the various groups within the nascent Muslim community, even in later decades. For a group of Bal am¯ Sh¯ ı’s ıite contemporaries, as the author underlines, insisted that the death of Husayn . was a more decisive moment in the history of the early Muslim community than the hijra of the Prophet.2618 If the Sh¯ ites were too biased to lend credibilı ity to this assessment, what ought we do with a tradition describing a group of Bal am¯ contemporaries who claimed Mu ¯wiya’s assumption of the caliphate ı’s a to be a more appropriate calendar marker for the Muslims than the hijra of Muhammad from his native city?2619 While sometime in 16–18 AH/637–639 CE . some might have decided to mark Muhammad’s hijra as a watershed event in . early Islamic history, therefore, up until the tenth century, there was still no consensus on the matter, albeit the dissent was probably voiced by a minority. How will our chronological reconstruction of the early Arab conquests of Iran affect our reconstruction of early Islamic history, and our appreciation of the Islamic historiographical tradition, especially the fut¯h narratives, beyond u. the strides that scholarship has already made apropos these? If alive, where was the Prophet Muhammad when the early conquests were taking place? Why . does his name not appear in the narratives of the conquest? And what was his relationship to Ab¯ Bakr and Umar? The traditional Islamic narratives of u origin cannot quite accommodate the picture that we have presented in this study.

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2618 Bal am¯ 1987, ı 2619 Bal am¯ 1987, ı

p. 87. pp. 87–88.

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Tables, ﬁgures and map

Key
The following symbols and abbreviations will be used in the tables and the index. Abbreviations
Khu Khusrow Hor Hormozd IV Phl Pahlav faction under the leadership of the Ispahbudh¯n, including a

the army of Azarb¯yj¯n. a a
Prs P¯rs¯ faction under the leadership of F¯ uz¯n, including the N¯ a ıg ır¯ a ım-

r¯z¯ faction and the army of Persia and the East. u ı
Shr Shahrvar¯z’s conquest army from the Byzantine wars. a Arm Armenians Trk Turks Dlm Daylam

Marks
∗

conjectural

collaborator or defector † died

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xxx contradictory or inconsistent identiﬁcation

467

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TABLES , FIGURES AND MAP Battle or Raid Ubullah King and Faction Ardash¯ ır (Prs, Phl) Ardash¯ ır (Prs, Phl) Ardash¯ ır (Prs, Phl) Ardash¯ ır (Prs, Phl) Ardash¯ ır (Phl) Shahrvar¯z a (Prs, Shr) Shahrvar¯z a (Prs, Shr)
∗

CE Date (revised)

Iranian

Commanders and Generals Arab Kh¯lid a

III

628

Dh¯t a al-Sal¯sil a Madh¯r a Walajah Ullays Maqr Veh Ardash¯ ır Anb¯r a Ayn Tamr D¯mat alu Jandal Husayd . . Fir¯d a. Nam¯riq a Kaskar Buwayb

III III III III

∗

629

629–30 629–30 630 630 630
∗

Qub¯dPhl , a HormozdPrs , Phl , ¯ a An¯shj¯n u a Az¯dbih, J¯b¯n a a Hormozd†Prs , Qub¯dPhl , a An¯shj¯nPhl u a Q¯r¯ †Phl , An¯shj¯n†Phl , a ın u a Qub¯d†Phl a Bahman J¯dh¯yihPrs , a u Andarzghar J¯b¯n a a a a ¯ a F¯ uz¯nPrs , J¯b¯n, Az¯dbih ır¯ a Bahman J¯dh¯yihPrs , a u ¯ a Az¯dbih Bahman J¯dh¯yihPrs , a u Sh¯ ad ırz¯ Mihr¯n Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Shr a a u ın R¯zbih, Zarmihr u Zarmihr† , R¯zbih† , u Mahb¯dh¯n u a ∗ Hormozd J¯dh¯yih Shr a u RustamPhl , Nars¯Phl , J¯b¯n ı a a Nars¯Phl , ı J¯l¯ usArm , a ın¯ Phl , Vind¯ yihPhl T¯ uyih ır¯ u F¯ uz¯nPrs , Shahrvar¯z†Shr , ır¯ a a Bahman J¯dh¯yihPrs , a u Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯†Phl , a a ı ¯ a RustamPhl , Az¯dbih Bahman J¯dh¯yihPrs , a u J¯l¯ usArm a ın¯

Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Kh¯lid a Muthann¯ a Muthann¯ a Ab¯ u Ubayd Muthann¯ a

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Bridge

B¯r¯ndukht ua (Phl, Prs)

632

Ab¯ u Ubayd†

Table 6.1: Conquest of Iraq: tentative chronology of the battles during the interregnum (628–632), erroneously dated in the fut¯h to 12–13 AH/633–634 u. CE . 468

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Shahrvar¯z a (Prs, Shr) Shahrvar¯z a (Prs, Shr) ∗ Shahrvar¯z a (Shr, ∗ Prs) ∗ Shahrvar¯z a (Shr, ∗ Prs) Shahrvar¯z a (Shr) B¯r¯ndukht ua (Phl) B¯r¯ndukht ua (Phl) B¯r¯ndukht ua (Phl, Prs)

630

630
∗

630 630

∗

630 631 631
∗

631

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TABLES , FIGURES AND MAP Battles and Conquests Q¯disiya a Yazdgird’s Location Ctesiphon
CE

Date

635

Ahv¯z a Jal¯l¯ ua

Hulw¯n a . Hulw¯n a .

∗

636 637

R¯m a Hurmurz Tustar Nih¯vand a Hamad¯n a Isfah¯n a .

Isfah¯n . a Is. akhr .t Kirm¯n a Kirm¯n a Kirm¯n a

637 637 642 642 642

W¯j R¯dh a u

∗

S¯st¯n ı a

642–43

F¯rs a Rayy Dam¯vand a Q¯mis u Gurg¯n a Tabarist¯n a .

∗

S¯st¯n ı a Marv Marv Marv Marv Marv†

∗

644 651

651 643 639, ∗ 651 643, 651 652 652

∗

Khur¯s¯n aa N¯ ap¯r ısh¯ u Azarb¯yj¯n a a Darband Armenia B¯dgh¯ a ıs

∗

643, >651 653 654

Commanders and Generals Arab †Phl , Kan¯rangPhl , Sa d b. Ab¯ Rustam a ı Phl , Phl , Waqq¯s a. Vind¯yih u T¯ uyih ır¯ Mušeł†Arm , Grigor†Arm , Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯Phl , a a a ı Shahr¯ ar†Phl , F¯ uz¯nPrs , ıy¯ ır¯ a ∗ Hurmuz¯n Prs a ∗ Hurmuz¯n Prs a Utbah †Phl , H¯shim b. Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯ a a a ı a Farrukhz¯dPhl , F¯ uz¯nPrs , Utbah a ır¯ a Varaztirots‘Arm ∗ ıy¯ Hurmuz¯n Prs , S¯ ah a Ab¯ M¯s¯ u ua Ash ar¯ ı ∗ Hurmuz¯n Prs a Nu m¯n a Arm , Varaztirots‘ Bahman Nu m¯n a J¯dh¯yihPrs , F¯ uz¯n†Prs , a u ır¯ a Q¯r¯ Phl , D¯ ar a ın ın¯ Nu m¯n a Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih†Phl , a a u Nu m¯n a F¯dh¯sf¯n, a u a Bahman J¯dh¯yih†Prs a u Dlm , M¯t¯ ua Isfand¯ arPhl , Nu aym ıy¯ Varaztirots‘†Arm , Farrukhz¯dPhl a Ahnaf . Phl , S¯ avakhsh ıy¯ Nu aym Farrukhz¯dPhl a Mard¯nsh¯hPhl a a Nu aym Suwayd ¯ SulTrk Suwayd . Phl , Suwayd Trk , Sul Farrukhz¯d a .¯ J¯ J¯ ansh¯hPrs ıl-i ıl¯ a ∗ Kan¯rangPhl , M¯h¯y Phl a a u Kan¯rangPhl , Asw¯rPhl , Abdall¯h a a a ¯ Burz¯ Sh¯hPhl ın a b. Amir Isfand¯ arPhl , Bahr¯mPhl ıy¯ a Bukayr Shahrvar¯zShr a Sur¯qah a Arm T‘¯odoros e K¯rin†Phl a Sul¯m¯ a ı Iranian

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Table 6.2: Conquest of Iran: tentative reconstruction, including Yazdgird III’s location during his ﬂight.

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TABLES , FIGURES AND MAP Seal 1a 1b A 2a 2b 2c B 2d/1 2d/2 3a 3b 4a 4b King Khu I Hor K¯st u East East Name Chihr-Burz¯n e ın) (S¯ ah-i Burz¯ ım¯ D¯d-Burz-Mihr a (D¯dmihr) a Wahr¯m Adurm¯h a ¯ a ¯ (Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar) a a W¯h-Sh¯buhr e a P¯ ırag-i Shahrwar¯z a (Shahrvar¯z) a Wistakhm (Vist¯hm) a G¯r-g¯n (Gołon) o o S¯d-h¯sh e o Family K¯rin (Phl) a K¯rin (Phl ) a

Khu I Hor Khu Khu II

South South South

(Prs) Mihr¯n (Phl) a Mihr¯n (Phl) a Ispahbudh¯n (Phl) a Mihr¯n (Phl) a Mihr¯n (Phl) a

Khu II Hor Khu I Khu I

∗

East West North North

Table 6.3: Seals: the recently discovered seals of eight sp¯hbeds. Information a attested on the seals is in boldface.

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Figure 6.1: Seal 3b of the ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed Vist¯hm. ea a a

470

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Hormozd III Qub¯d a α J¯m¯sp a a β Vist¯hm a T¯ uyih; Vind¯yih Farrukh Hormozd ır¯ u Azarm¯dukht ı Suhr¯b a Farrukhz¯d a Isfand¯ ar ıy¯ Maryam; Sh¯ ın ır¯ B¯r¯ndukht ua Shahr¯m a Vind¯yih u γ Nars¯ ı Rustam Bahr¯m a Asparapet (∗ Sh¯p¯r) a u Khusrow I Hormozd IV Khusrow II Sh¯r¯yih Qub¯d ıu a Ardash¯r III ı Aspebedes (∗ Bawi)

P¯r¯z ıu Bil¯sh a Zar¯ ır

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∗ Jushnas

J¯m¯sp a a

Nars¯ ı

Kay¯s u

P¯ uz ır¯

Sh¯p¯r a u

J¯ ansh¯h ıl¯ a

Shahrvar¯z a

δ

M¯h¯dharjushnas a a An¯shj¯n; Qub¯d u a a Farrukh¯n a

J¯ J¯ ansh¯h ıl-i ıl¯ a

a Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z a u

Shahr¯ ar ıy¯

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D¯b¯yih a u

B¯d¯sp¯n a u a

Yazdgird III

Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg a D¯dmihr a Khursh¯ ıd Ummat al-Rahm¯n . a Hormozd ε Yazd¯ngird a Shahrkhw¯st¯n a a D¯dmihr a Vand¯d Hormozd a

S¯r¯yih au

Farrukh¯n-i K¯chak a u

Tus .¯

Jushnas

Farrukh¯n a

Vandarand

Fahr¯n a

¯ Table 6.4: Genealogical tree: the Sasanians (middle), Al-i J¯m¯sp (left), and the Ispahbudh¯n (right) from the time of Hormozd a a a III. Monarchs are in italics; a double dotted line indicates a marital relationship; a Greek letter denotes a wife whose name is unknown.

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Figure 6.2: Map of the Sasanian empire: fourth century CE

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For our citation conventions, see p. xii. The numbers between brackets after a reference refer to the pages on which the source is cited. ¯ a Aban Yasht 1883, Ab¯n Yasht, vol. 23 of Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1883, translated by James Darmesteter. [394] Abbas, I., ‘Barmakids’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Encyclopaedia Iranica, pp. 806–809, New York, 1991. [175] Agapius of Manjib, Kit¯b al- Unv¯n, vol. 8 of Patrologia Orientalis, 1911, edited and a a translated by A. Vasiliev. [146, 442] Agha, Saleh Said, The Agents and Forces that Toppled the Umayyad Caliphate, Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto, 1993. [416] Agha, Saleh Said, The Revolution which Toppled the Umayyads: Neither Arab nor Abb¯sid, a Leiden, 2003. [416, 425] Altheim, Franz and Stiehl, Ruth, Ein asiatischer Staat: Feudalismus unter den Sasaniden und ihren Nachbarn, Wiesbaden, 1954. [41] Amoretti, B.S., ‘Sects and Heresies’, in Ehsan Yarshater (ed.), Cambridge History of Iran: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, vol. 3, p. 481, Cambridge University Press, 1983. [422, 424, 433] ¯ Amul¯ Mowl¯n¯ Owliy¯, T¯r¯kh-i R¯y¯n, vol. 64 of Intish¯r¯t-i bony¯d-i farhang-i Ir¯n, ı, a a a aı u a aa a a Tehran, 1969, edited by Manuchihr Sotudih. [288, 442]

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Arda Wiraz 1999, Ard¯ W¯r¯z N¯ma, Tehran, 1999, translated by Mihrdad Bahar. [330, a ıa a 431, 432] Ardashir 1963, K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯r-i P¯pag¯n, Tehran, 1963, translated by Sadegh Hea a ı a a dayat. [46, 47, 366, 367] Ardashir 1966, Testament of Ardaš¯r, vol. 254 of Journal Asiatique, pp. 46–90, 1966, transı lated by M. Grignaschi. [324, 343]

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Tabar¯ The Conquest of Iraq, Southwestern Persia, and Egypt, vol. XIII of The History of ı, . Tabar¯, Albany, 1989a, translated and annotated by Gautier H.A. Juynboll. [198, 215, ı . 216, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245] Tabar¯ The Waning of the Umayyad Caliphate: Prelude to Revolution: A.D. 738-745/A.H. ı, . 121-127, vol. XXVI of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1989b, translated and annotated ı . by Carole Hillenbrand. [310] Tabar¯ The Crisis of the Early Caliphate, vol. 15 of The History of Tabar¯, NY, 1990, ı, ı . . translated and annotated by R. Stephen Humphreys. [246, 259, 260, 303] Tabar¯ The Battle of al-Q¯disiyyah and the Conquest of Syria and Palestine, vol. XII of The ı, a . History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1992, translated and annotated by Yohanan Friedmann. ı . [187, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 230, 231, 232, 233, 269, 464] Tabar¯ The Challenge to the Empires, vol. XI of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1993, ı, ı . . translated and annotated by Khalid Yahya Blankinship. [16, 164, 165, 168, 169, 170, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 217, 218, 219, 220, 234, 281] Tabar¯ The Conquest of Iran, vol. XIV of The History of Tabar¯, Albany, 1994, translated ı, ı . . and annotated by G. Rex Smith. [223, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258, 259, 263, 264, 265, 278, 279, 280, 293, 305, 306, 308] Tabar¯ The S¯s¯n¯ds, the Byzantines, the Lakhmids, and Yemen, vol. V of The History of ı, aa ı . Tabar¯, Albany, 1999, translated and annotated by C.E. Bosworth. [xii, 45, 56, 57, 58, ı . 60, 61, 62, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 118, 119, 123, 125, 129, 143, 145, 146, 151, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 172, 175, 178, 179, 180, 182, 183, 184, 185, 192, 205, 210, 223, 229, 289, 299, 331, 367, 381, 382, 383, 384, 401, 444] Tabar¯ Muhammad b. Jar¯ Ta r¯kh al-Rusul wa ’l-Mul¯k (Annales), Leiden, 1879–1901, ı, ır, ı u . . edited by M.J. de Goeje. [xii, 13, 45, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 118, 123, 125, 143, 145, 146, 151, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 161, 168, 169, 172, 175, 179, 180, 182, 183, 185, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258, 259, 260, 263, 264, 265, 269, 271, 276, 278, 279, 280, 293, 299, 303, 305, 306, 308, 310, 315, 367, 381, 382, 384, 401, 426, 444, 464]

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Glossary

A Ahr¯ ıman ah¯ ra u Avestan ANra Mainiiu: the evil spirit opposing Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ (q.v.). ua a Vedic asura (evil god), but in Zoroastrianism one of the three great Lords: Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ (q.v.), Mithra (q.v.), or *Vouruna/Ap m Napat (Varuna; ua a ˙ grandson of the waters).

Ah¯ r¯ Mazd¯ Middle Persian Ohrmazd, New Persian Hormozd, Armenian Aramazd, u a a Greek Aramasdes, but sometimes also Z υς (Zeus): Lord Wisdom, the benevolent supreme deity of Zoroastrianism, who opposes and ultimately defeats the evil spirit Ahr¯ ıman (q.v.). ajam From Arabic ajama (to mumble); similar in use as Greek βαρβαρoς (indistinct speech): non-Arabs (from araba, to speak clearly), but in particular, Persians.

Amahraspands Avestan Am@ša Sp@nta (Bounteous Immortals), the six archangels or ˙ ua ˙ emanations of Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯: Vohu Man¯ (Bahman, Good Thought), Aša a o ˙ Vahišta (Ardwahisht, Ordibehesht, Highest Asha), Xšaθra Vairiia (Shahre˙ ¯ war, Desirable Dominion), Sp@nta Armaiti (Spandarmad, Holy Devo˙ tion), Hauruuat¯t (Hord¯d, Health), and Am@r@t¯t (Amurd¯d, erroneousa a a a ˙ ly also Mord¯d, Immortality). Their names still ˙ a survive as the eleventh, second, sixth, twelfth, third, and ﬁfth months respectively, in both the Iranian and Zoroastrian calendars, as well as the names of, respectively, the second to the seventh day of each month in the Zoroastrian calendar. Amesha Spentas An¯hit¯ a a See Amahraspands. Avestan Ar@duu¯ S¯r¯ An¯hit¯ (the Strong and Immaculate), Armenian ı ua a a ¯ a Anahit: goddess of pure waters (Ab¯n) and fertility. The Sasanian kings were often the high-priests of her cult center at Stakhr in F¯rs. a Non-Iranian, speciﬁcally a non-Zoroastrian. See hargbed. Avestan aša, Sanskrit ˙ta, Middle Persian arda/ahlaw: order, righteousr ˙ ness, justice, the moral opposite of drug (q.v.). Middle Persian aspa-pati, Armenian aspet, aspip¯des: general of the cavalry. ı From Old Persian upast¯waka (Praise of God), Middle Persian abest¯g: a a collection of Zoroastrian sacred texts, consisting of the G¯th¯s (q.v.), the a a

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an¯r e argbed asha aspbed Avest¯ a

499

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G LOSSARY
Yashts (q.v.), and other liturgical material; whence Avestan, the old Iranian language of these texts closely related to Old Vedic (Sanskrit), normally divided into Gathic (Old) and Younger Avestan. ayy¯r a Member of secret brother/sisterhoods in Iran during the late antique and medieval periods, often expressing themselves with a Mithraic ideology against the status quo. Literally, the free people: lower nobility. B bar¯ ıd barsom From Latin veredus (post-horse): postal and intelligence service of the Sasanians. Avestan bar@sman: sacred twigs in Zoroastrian rituals, bound together in a bundle (the number of twigs in a bundle depends on the particular ceremony). Originally twigs of the h¯m (q.v.) plant were used, but later o substituted by those of the pomegranate. Clay imprint of a seal. C caesaropapism From Latin Caesar (emperor) and Papa (pope): Byzantine model of government in which the emperor was also the head of the Church.

az¯dh¯n a a

bulla

Chinvat Bridge Avestan cinuuat¯ p@r@tu (bridge of the collector), Middle Persian chino wad puhl: narrow bridge on the top of Mount Har¯/Alburz (Chag¯d-i a a D¯it¯ leading to the afterworld, which the soul of the departed, under a ı) the guidance of Sor¯sh (q.v.), has to cross three days after his death, acu companied by his d¯n (in the form of a fair maiden), after being judged e to be righteous by a tribunal presided by Mithra (q.v.), the m¯y¯nch¯gh. ı a ı Ctesian method Named after the Greek historian Ctesias, who embellished his stories with mythical material: a method of historical writing in which contemporary histories are anachronistically superimposed onto mythical times. D dar¯ ıgbed dast¯r a dastgird dastwar Palace superintendent, akin to a Byzantine cura palatii. Flying ribbons symbolizing farr (q.v.), often in conjunction with a ram. Avestan dasta-k@r@ta (handiwork): royal or seigniorial estate. Avestan dasta-bara, New Persian dast¯r: religious teacher, spiritual auu thority; similar to Avestan ratu. Religious call. Armenian daye’kut iwn from Middle Persian d¯yag (wet nurse): Armea nian form of child rearing through a foster naxarar (q.v.) family, whence guardianship. Middle Persian dahig¯n, dehg¯n, Syriac dhgn’, Arabic dihq¯n: military a a a landlord, presumably after Khusrow I’s reforms. Possibly the same as a shahr¯g (q.v.). ı

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da w¯ a dayeakordi

dehk¯n a

500

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G LOSSARY
d¯v e d¯ an ıw¯ Avestan da¯uua, from Vedic daiva (younger god), which acquired in Zoroase trianism the meaning of its moral opposite: evil spirit, demon. Army register; treasury for levying land taxes.

o a driy¯š¯n ˇ¯dagg¯w ud d¯dvar Literally, protector of the poor and judge: judiciary ofo a ja ﬁce, possibly in replacement of the ofﬁce of m¯bad (q.v.). See also j¯dh¯o a u yih. drug dvandva Avestan druj: falsehood, lie, whence, on a cosmological scale, the evil creation of Ahr¯ ıman (q.v.). From Sanskrit dva (two): in onomastics, a compound name formed from the names of two separate deities; e.g., Mihr Hormozd. E ¯r¯n-dibh¯rbadh e a e ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed e a a ethnicon exilarch Head of the scribal caste. Head of the army. Also sp¯hbed (q.v.). a Ethnic (self-)identiﬁcation. Hereditary leader of the Jews after the Babylonian exile. F farr Avestan x ar@nah, Middle Persian xwarra, khvarenah, Armenian P‘ark‘: the Divine Fortune, associated with legitimate kingship; bestowed by Mithra (q.v.). Avestan fraš¯-k@r@ti (making juicy, wonderful): judgment day, the time o of healing, ˙ renovation. G G¯th¯ a a ghul¯t a g¯ ıg ıt¯ gumezishn Avestan g¯θ¯, Middle Persian g¯h: a sacred hymn from the Avest¯ (q.v.), a a a a attributed to Zoroaster himself. Literally, exaggerators: the name given to various extremist Sh¯ ite sects ı in Iran. From Avestan ga¯θ¯ (living beings): material existence. e a Literally mixture: the present, material world, when Ahr¯ ıman’s (q.v.) drug (q.v.) is mixed with Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯’s (q.v.) asha (q.v.). ua a H had¯ . ıth
w

frashegird

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hargbed

From Middle Persian harag (tax, see khar¯j) and pati (head): chief of ﬁa nances. Because of the military nature of the ofﬁce, an alternative proposition is argbed (fortress commander). See haz¯rbed. a Also haz¯raft, or erroneously haz¯rbandak (Owner of Thousand Slaves), a a from Old Persian haz¯ra-pati (chiliarch): Chief of the Thousands, grand a intendant, whence also prime minister, wuzurg fram¯d¯r (q.v.). a a

haz¯raft a haz¯rbed a

501

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Literally tradition: an account of the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, second in authority to the Qur ¯n (q.v.). a .

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G LOSSARY
herbad h¯m o Avestan aeθra-paiti, Middle Persian ¯rpat: Zoroastrian priest. e Avestan haoma, Vedic soma: unidentiﬁed plant with psycho-pharmacological properties, used in Zoroastrian rituals, where it is now substituted with harmel (esfand) or ephedra; the deity associated with this plant and worshipped in the H¯m Yasht (q.v.). o See Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯. ua a I ib¯ha ’l-nis¯ a a Ibl¯ ıs Im¯m a ispahbud Literally permission of women: Arabic term for the Mazdakite tenet of the “communal sharing of women.” From Greek διαβoλoς (devil, from Middle Persian d¯v, q.v.): the Islamic e nomenclature for the devil. Religious supreme leader. Arabic isfahbud or isbahbadh: New Persian form of sp¯hbed (q.v.) or ¯r¯na ea . sp¯hbed (q.v.), in the later period, also meaning ruler of a region. a J j¯dh¯ yih a u jizya Middle Persian ˇ¯dagg¯w: advocate, spokesman, in particular vis-à-vis the ja o king (see footnote 1092). See also driy¯š¯n ˇ¯dagg¯w ud d¯dvar. o a ja o a Poll (head) tax. K Ka ba Cube shaped shrine in Mecca, believed to be the house of God (Allah) by the Muslims. It constitutes the qibla (q.v.) for the daily prayers and is the focus of the annual pilgrimage (hajj). . Tax collector; akin to Arabic ¯mil. a See qan¯t. a From Greek χoρηγια (literally organizer of a choir, whence provision, revenue) or Aramaic har¯g, Middle Persian harag (tax): land tax, but . a sometimes used in the generic sense of tax. Avestan a¯šma-da¯uua, Middle Persian x¯šm or ¯šm, Hebrew Ashmedai, e e e e ˙ Greek ασµoδαις: anger, whence in Zoroastrianism the demon Wrath, the chief demon of Ahr¯ ıman (q.v.). In the apocalypse, the opponent of Mithra. See farr. Avestan xw a¯tuuadaθa: close-kin (consanguineous) marriage, a practice e that was prevalent among Zoroastrian noble families. See Qur ¯n. a In Arabic naming practice, referring to the patronymic construction Ab¯ u (father of), or its female equivalent Umm (mother of); sometimes used instead of the proper name (ism).

Hormozd

k¯rd¯r a a kar¯ ız khar¯j a

Kheshm

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khvarenah khw¯d¯dah e o Koran kunya

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Khud¯yn¯mag a a

See Xw ad¯y-N¯mag. a a

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k¯ st u One of the four quarters (or sides) in which Khusrow I divided the empire, each assigned to an ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed (q.v.). ea a

k¯ st-i ¯durb¯dag¯n The quarter of the north, comprising Azarb¯yj¯n, parts of G¯ an, u a a a a a ıl¯ Tabarist¯n, and northern regions. a . k¯ st-i khwar¯s¯n The quarter of the east, comprising Gurg¯n, Khur¯s¯n, and eastern u aa a aa regions. k¯ st-i khwarbar¯n The quarter of the west, comprising Saw¯d, Iraq, and western reu a a gions. k¯ st-i n¯mr¯z u e o The quarter of the south, comprising F¯rs, Kirm¯n, and S¯ an. a a ıst¯ M mahist¯n a mainyu mang marzb¯n a Avestan mazišta, Middle Persian mahist (greatest): council of high nobility, senate. Avestan mainiiu: spirit. See also menog. A mixture of hemp and wine, with intoxicating properties. Alternatively, henbane, or a substitute for h¯m (q.v.). o Old Iranian marza-pan¯, Armenian marzpan: margrave, warden of the a marches (borders); by extension a military commander, similar sometimes to a sp¯hbed (q.v.). a (pl. maw¯l¯). Literally client: in the early Islamic period referring to a aı non-Arab (Iranian) convert. Literally, not in the right place: direct dispensation of justice by the ruler. From mainyu (q.v.): spiritual state. See Mithra. Autumnal festival in celebration of Mithra (q.v.), commemorated on the day of Mihr of the month of Mihr, that is to say, 195 days after Nowr¯z u (q.v.). Cave-like, often subterranean, temple devoted to the Roman god Mithras (q.v.). Avestan Miθra, Persian Mihr: literally contract, whence the Indo-Iranian deity of the contract. In Zoroastrianism, one of the three ahuras (q.v.), whose worship extended greatly beyond orthodox praxis and who became identiﬁed with the sun. Roman deity, most probably derived from Iranian Mithra (q.v.). His cult in the Roman Empire is referred to as Roman Mithraism, an extremely popular religious current, which ﬂourished especially during the ﬁrst three centuries CE, when it rivaled nascent Christianity. See also tauroctony. Middle Persian magu-pati, Parthian magupat (chief moγ, q.v.): Zoroastrian priest holding also an administrative or supervisory ofﬁce. The m¯bad (q.v.) of all m¯bads, head of the priestly caste. o o

mawl¯ a maz¯lim .a m¯n¯g e o Mihr Mihrig¯n a

mithraeum Mithra

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m¯bad o

m¯badh¯n m¯badh o a o

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moG Avestan m¯γu, Old Persian maguš , Middle Persian magu, mgw, Greek o µαγoς, Arabic maj¯s: mog, mage, Magian, member of the sacerdotal u caste. Originally they may have been a Median tribe of priests. The three wise men from the East adoring the infant Christ (at the Epiphany) were moγs (one of these Magi, Gaspar, is claimed to be the S¯renid ¯r¯n-sp¯hu ea a bed (q.v.) Gondofarr, son of general Rustaham Surena). See also m¯bad. o N nask naxarar nisba Nowr¯ z u Prayer, but by extension one of the twenty parts in which the Avest¯ a (q.v.) is divided. Parthian naxvadar: Armenian high nobility. Noun of relation: in Arab nomenclature, the tribe or region to which one belongs; whence, in modern usage, family name. Literally new day: the festival of the Zoroastrian as well as the secular Iranian new year. In modern times, after the calendar reforms and except for certain Parsi calendars, it always falls on the vernal (spring) equinox. During the Sasanian period, due to calendar shifts, the festival fell later in the year. O Ohrmazd ¯ a a ost¯nd¯r ostracon See Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯. ua a Ruler of an ¯st¯n (region, territory), whence governor. The difference o a with shahrab (q.v.) is not always clear. From Greek oστ ρακoν (shell): piece of pottery with an inscription. P p¯dh¯ sp¯n a u a Pahlav Avestan patikauša-p¯na, Middle Persian p¯yg¯sp¯n: protector of the realm, a a o a ˙ whence governor. Ethnic group, originally called Parni or Dahae. Their name is derived from the Achaemenid term for the region, Parthava, to which they migrated. By extension, Pahlav or Parthian is also used to refer to the Arsacid dynasty, and related dynastic families from this region. The derivation Pahlavi refers to a particular script (derived from the Aramaic script), and by extension to the Middle Iranian language written in this script. From or belonging to the region of F¯rs, whence Persian. By extension, a the faction associating itself with the Sasanians. See Pahlav. Greek πoλις (city): a Hellenistic city-state, often self-sufﬁcient and semiindependent. Q qan¯t a From Akkadian kan¯ (reed), Latin canalis (canal): underground irriga. u tion canal borrowing into the aquifer inside a mountain slope, thus producing fresh water. Also called kar¯z. ı

P¯rs¯ a ıg

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Parthian polis

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qibla Prayer direction, in the Muslim creed, towards the Ka ba (q.v.) in Mecca. quadripartition The division of the empire by Khusrow I into four quarters or k¯sts u (q.v.), each assigned to an ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed (q.v.). ea a Qur ¯n a Muslim holy scripture, believed to be the words of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. . R Avestan rašnu, Middle Persian rashn: the yazata (q.v.) of Justice, whence ˙ his close association with Mithra (q.v.), worshipped in the Rashnu Yasht (q.v.). rath¯sht¯r¯n s¯l¯r From Avestan raθa¯štar (he who stands on a chariot, warrior): a a a aa e supreme commander of the army. Also ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed (q.v.). ea a ridda wars Literally, wars of apostasy: a series of battles against Arab tribes that had presumably left the umma (q.v.) shortly after Muhammad’s death. . Rig Veda Sanskrit Rg Veda: oldest Hindu scripture, exhibiting strong linguistic . and cultural afﬁnities with the Avest¯ (q.v.). a S Sadih sanad satrapy sh¯h¯nsh¯h a a a shahrab shahrd¯r¯n a a From Persian sad (hundred): Zoroastrian festival of light, celebrated 50 days (=100 days and nights) before Nowr¯z (q.v.). u (plural, isn¯d). Chain of authorities in the transmission of a tradition or a had¯th (q.v.). . ı Avestan xšaθra, Middle Persian shahr: realm, whence province, the head of which ˙ was a shahrab (q.v.). King of Kings, ofﬁcial title of the Iranian monarch. Satrap, governor of a satrapy (q.v.) or a royal estate; in the later period, ruler of a shahr (province). Literally, holder of a shahr (province or region): in Sh¯p¯r I’s inscription a u ŠKZ, it refers to royal nobility, but in late Sasanian times it could also refer to other high nobility. Sometimes confused with shahrab (q.v.). Arabic shahr¯j: a member of the dehk¯n (q.v.) class. Sometimes confused ı a with shahrab (q.v.). Avestan sraoša, Middle Persian srosh: the yazata (q.v.) of Obedience, right ˙ hand of Mithra (q.v.), worshipped in the Sor¯sh Yasht (q.v.). u Avestan saošiiant (he who brings beneﬁt): the redeemer or savior, a Zoroas˙ trian messianic ﬁgure, to be born to a virgin from the seed of Zoroaster. To redeem mankind and restore asha (q.v.) at the time of the frashegird (q.v.), the third and ﬁnal S¯shyant, acting as a priest, performs the slaugho ter of the sacred bull, whose sacriﬁcial fat mixed with h¯m (q.v.) yields o the elixir of immortality. Middle Persian sp¯da-pati, Persian ispahbud (q.v.), Armenian (a)sparapet: a chief of an army, general. Before Khusrow I’s reforms, sp¯hbed also desa ignated the supreme commander, a hereditary post that became the gentilitial name of the Ispahbudh¯n family; after the reforms, a general in a charge of one of the four k¯sts (q.v.). Also ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed (q.v.). u ea a Rashnu

shahr¯ ıg Sor¯ sh u S¯shyant o

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sp¯hbed a

505

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sparapet sunna Hereditary title of the house of Mamikonean, derived from Parthian sp’dpty, Middle Persian sp¯hbed (q.v.). a Literally, way of acting: precedent, custom. T tanut¯r e tauroctony Middle Persian tukh¯r: a leading member of an Armenian noble family, a naxarar (q.v.). Scene of Mithras (q.v.) ritually slaying a bull. In the depiction, which forms the central mystic dogma of Roman Mithraism and is found in any mithraeum (q.v.), Mithras, wearing a Phrygian cap and pants, slays the bull from above while looking away. From Greek τ oπoς (place), whence commonplace: a literary theme or meme. U umma The Islamic community. V v¯spuhr¯n a a High ranking elite, princes.

topos

v¯stry¯sh¯n s¯l¯r Middle Persian wastr¯-i ush¯n s¯l¯r, from Avestan v¯strii¯-fšuiiant a o a aa a ¯ a aa a o ˙ ˙˙ (farmer): chief of the agriculturalists. W wastr¯-i ush¯n s¯l¯r a ¯ a aa wizarishn See v¯stry¯sh¯n s¯l¯r. a o a aa

From Middle Persian wiz¯rdan (to separate): time of separation, redempa tion, whence the end of the material world, after the S¯shyant (q.v.) has o defeated the evil forces of Ahr¯ ıman (q.v.) and his drug (q.v.) at frashegird (q.v.). Grandees. Supreme leader, prime minister. See also haz¯rbed. a X

wuzurg¯n a

wuzurg fram¯d¯r a a

X ad¯y-N¯mag New Persian Khud¯yn¯mag: the Book of the Lords, that is, Kings, a a a a whence Sh¯hn¯ma. a a

w

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Y Yasht Any of the Avestan hymns to Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, the archangels (Amahraua a spands, q.v.), and other yazatas (q.v.). Some, like the Mihr Yasht (see Mithra) and the H¯m Yasht (see h¯m), predate Zoroaster. o o Literally, a being worthy of worship: any of the lesser deities in the Zoroastrian pantheon, angel.

yazata

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xwarra

See farr.

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Z zand¯ ık Zand Zurv¯n a Arabic zind¯q: literally reader of the Zand (q.v.), but used in the sense of ı heretic, especially applied to Mazdakites. Middle Persian translation of the Avest¯ (q.v.), together with glosses and a commentaries. Avestan zruuan (time): the father of the divine twin brothers Ah¯r¯ ua Mazd¯ (q.v.) and Ahr¯ a ıman (q.v.) according to the Zurvanite branch of Zoroastrianism.

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507

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Index

Persian and Armenian ﬁgures are listed under their gentilitial name (in boldface), when known (conjectural associations are marked ∗ ; see p. 467). A ab¯khtar (north), listed under k¯st a u ¯ a Ab¯n ∼ J¯dh¯yih, listed under J¯dh¯yih a u a u deity, see Apam Nap¯t a Abarshahr, see also N¯ ap¯r, 50, 65, ısh¯ u 71, 139, 273, 276 Abb¯s b. Abdalmuttalib, 227 a .. Abb¯sid a ∼ caliphs, listed under Caliph ∼ historiography, 35, 437, 454 ∼ revolution, 315, 397, 414–422, 425, 426, 429, 435–438, 443, 448–450 Abb¯sids, 5, 6, 35, 39, 62, 275, 287, a 309, 315, 317, 318, 354, 376, 378, 380, 392, 397, 414–422, 425–427, 429, 435–441, 443, 444, 446, 448–451, 454, 456, 459 Abd al-Jabb¯r b. Abdalrahm¯n, 316 a . a Abd Rabb al-Kab¯ 309 ır, Abdalham¯ 315 . ıd, Abdall¯h b. Abdall¯h b. Itb¯n, 248 a a a ¯ Abdall¯h b. Amir, 257, 271–274, 276, a 469 Abdall¯h b. Kh¯zim Sul¯m¯ 278, 469 a a a ı, Abdall¯h b. Sa¯ 435 a ıd, Ab¯ ıvard, 318, 417, 418 Abruw¯n, 61 a Ab¯ Awn b. Abdalmalik, 316 u ¯ Ab¯ Bakr, listed under Caliph u Ab¯ Ja far Zar¯tusht, 62 u a Ab¯ ’l- Abb¯s Tus¯ 317 u a . ¯ ı, Ab¯ ’l-Khas¯ Umar b. al- Al¯ , u a . ıb 316–318, 441 Ab¯ Khuzaymah, 317 u Ab¯ Mansur Abdalrazz¯q, 14, 394, u a .¯ 463 † in 962 CE, 14 the prose Sh¯hn¯ma of ∼, 14, 271, a a 463 Ab¯ M¯s¯ al- Ash ar¯ 237, 239, 245, u ua ı, 248, 257, 469 Ab¯ Muslim, 315, 316, 414, 415, u 425–427, 433, 435–451, 454, 459 ∼’s call for al-rid¯ min ¯l-i a .a Muhammad, 414, 426, 435, 459 . † in 755 CE, 315, 437–444, 450 Ab¯ Silt, listed under Kan¯rang¯ an u a ıy¯ Ab¯ Ubayd, 207, 210, 211, 213, 468 u Ab¯ Ubaydah Hanaf¯ 438 u ı, . † in 755 CE, 438 Achaemenid Darius I, (ruled 549–486 BCE), 358, 359, 394 Darius III, (ruled 380–330 BCE), 19, 29, 358, 385 V¯ asp¯, father of Darius III, 29, ısht¯ a 385 Achaemenids, 1, 20, 22, 23, 26, 34, 36, 37, 45, 110, 140, 351, 358, 359, 375, 385, 387, 405, 456 ¯ Adargulb¯d (Adergoudounbades), a listed under Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ ¯ Adhar ¯ deity, see ¯ Izad-i Adhar ∼ Farnbagh, listed under ﬁre

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∼ Gushnasp, listed under ﬁre ∼ Narseh, listed under S¯s¯nid aa ∼ Val¯sh, listed under K¯rin a a Adiabene, 50, 347 ¯ ¯dur, see ¯ a Izad-i Adhar ¯ Adur An¯h¯ listed under S¯s¯nid a ıd, aa ¯durb¯dag¯n a a a north, listed under k¯st u province, see Azarb¯yj¯n a a Aelian (historian), 358 Afr¯s¯ ab, 116, 376, 408–410, 413, 414, a ıy¯ 441, 444 Agathias (historian), 299 agnatic, 27–29, 56, 94, 97, 115, 173, 188, 201, 229, 252, 268, 269, 297, 306, 314, 365, 393, 394, 419, 440, 448, 451 ahl al-buy¯t¯t, 58, 59, 88, 90, 93 ua , variants: bozorg¯n; vuzurg¯n; a a al- uzam¯ a . ahlam¯γ o ∼ ¯ fr¯ft¯r, 337 ı e a ¯ ∼ ¯ nask ošmurd, 337 ı Ahnaf, 240, 257, 258, 469 . Ahr¯ , 62 . a ahram¯k, see ahlam¯γ o o Ahr¯ ıman, 114, 322, 332, 339, 353, 360, 361, 370, 371, 411, 499, 501, 502, 506, 507 Ahura (Lord), listed under Ah¯r¯ ua Mazd¯, Varuna, or Mithra a Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯, 326, 327, 331, 334, 339, ua a 346, 350–353, 358, 361, 367, 371, 387, 390, 393, 399, 404, 409, 411, 499, 501, 502, 504, 506, 507 Ahv¯z, 194, 227, 236–238, 240, 469, a 513 , see also Battle of ∼ airya, 394 ajam, 158, 192, 217, 218, 250, 251, 255, 316, 395, 499 Akhshunw¯r, 381, 382 a al- Al¯ b. Hadram¯ 237, 238 a ı, . . Albania, see Arr¯n a Alburz, 137, 369, 370, 372, 375, 409, 414 ∼ as Har¯, 369, 432 a Dam¯vand in ∼, 250 a Mount Manush in ∼, 414 Alexander the Great, 19, 34, 39, 125, 321, 385, 445 † in 323 BCE, 19, 33 demonization of ∼, 34, 325, 431 Alexandria, 142, 143 ¯ Al-i B¯vand a B¯v, 107, 289–295, 309, 471 a , conﬂation of several members of the Ispahbudh¯n a † around 665 CE, 293, 294, 306–308, 451 as Farrukh Hormozd, 291 as Farrukhz¯d, 291–294, 303, a 304, 306–309, 424, 461–463 as Vist¯hm, 290, 291 a Suhr¯b, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a a ¯ Al-i B¯vands, 107, 288, 292, 294, 302, a 305–307, 309, 451 ¯ Al-i J¯m¯sp a a B¯d¯sp¯n, son of J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, 307, a u a ıl-i ıl¯ a 471 D¯b¯yih, 306–308, 471 a u † around 673 CE, 307, 308 D¯dmihr (Ibr¯h¯ a a ım), son of Khursh¯ 317, 471 ıd, D¯dmihr, 311–313, 471 a † around 740 CE, 312 Fahr¯n, 314, 471 a Farrukh¯n, paternal cousin of a Khursh¯ Sh¯h, 314, 438, 471 ıd a Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg (Dhu a ’l-Man¯qib), 307–314, 471 a † around 728 CE, 312 Farrukh¯n-i K¯chak, 313, 471 a u Hormozd (Ab¯ H¯r¯n ¯ a), son of u a u Is¯ Khursh¯ 317, 471 ıd, J¯m¯sp, (ruled 497–499), 75, 114, a a 298–301, 303, 377, 385, 398, 471 † circa 530–540 CE, 301 J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, 255–257, 265, 292, ıl-i ıl¯ a 299, 302–308, 317, 374, 377, 398, 424, 440, 447, 459, 469, 471 † around 665 CE, 306, 307 J¯ ansh¯h, 302, 471 ıl¯ a Jushnas, 314, 471

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510

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Khursh¯ Sh¯h, 313–317, 377, 378, ıd a 438, 440, 441, 443, 445, 447, 450, 451, 459, 471 † around 757 CE, 317 Nars¯ 301, 471 ı, † circa 570–580 CE, 301 P¯ uz, 136, 137, 301, 302, 377, 471 ır¯ S¯r¯yih, 314, 471 au Tus, 315, 316, 438, 440, 471 .¯ Ummat al-Rahm¯n, daughter of . a Khursh¯ 317, 471 ıd, Vand¯d Hormozd (M¯s¯), son of a ua Khursh¯ 317, 471 ıd, Vandarand, 314, 471 ¯ Al-i J¯m¯sps, 137, 296, 298, 301–307, a a 309, 311, 315, 317, 374, 377, 398, 424, 438, 440, 441, 443, 447, 448, 450, 451, 458, 471 ¯ Al-i Kay¯s, presumed dynasty of Kay¯s u u ¯ S¯s¯nid, confused with the Al-i aa B¯vand a Amahraspands, 49, 198, 326, 330, 339, 367, 373, 431, 499 Amazaspes III Parnabazid, see also Arsacids, Georgian, 44 Amesha Spentas, see Amahraspands ¯ Amid, 64, 103, 111, 177, 269 ¯ Amida, see Amid ¯ , 192, 193 Amr b. al- As . ¯ Amul, 40, 73, 90, 114, 135, 136, 209, 261, 293, 295, 310, 314, 317, 376 , see also mint of ∼ An¯hit¯, 326, 327, 331–334, 387, 390, a a 394, 499 Anak, listed under ∗ S¯ ren u Anatolia, 141, 358 Anb¯r, 200, 201, 203, 227, 468, 513 a , see also Battle of ∼ Andarzghar, 195, 468 And¯ an kings, 50 ıg¯ Andragoras, 20 an¯r, 393, 423, 499 e Angł, 103 Angra Mainyu, see Ahr¯ ıman Antioch, 19, 177, 389 Antiochus II, 20 An¯shj¯n, 191–194, 468, 471 u a † around 630 CE, 194 Apam Nap¯t, 354, 412 a Aparhatsik’, see Abarshahr apocalypticism, 404–406, 408–411, 413, 446, 459 Aprenak, 50 Arabs, passim Aramazd, see Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ ua a ¯ Arash, 376, 377, 379 Araxes, 133 Ard¯ W¯ az, 330, 431–433 a ır¯ Ardab¯ 116, 117, 130, 403 ıl, Ardash¯ listed under S¯s¯nid ır, aa Ardash¯ Khurrah, 38, 61, 76, 147, 367 ır , see also mint of ∼ Ardav¯n, listed under Arsacid a Arfajah b. Harthamah, 237 argbed, 61, 499 ¯rid, 88 a . aristocracy, see ahl al-buy¯t¯t ua Arj¯sp, king of T¯r¯n, 406 a ua Arm¯y¯ 40, 305 a ıl, Armenia, passim army ∼ of Persia and the East, 150, 155, 156, 159, 173, 181, 196 ∼ of Gurg¯n, 254 a ∼ of Khuzist¯n, 117 a ∼ of N¯ uz, 128, 155, 156, 173, ımr¯ 177, 184, 198, 199, 245 ∼ of S¯ an, see army of Persia and ıst¯ the East, or of N¯ uz ımr¯ ∼ of Shahrvar¯z, 147, 149, 150, 152, a 156, 159, 173, 177, 196, 198, 199, 306 ∼ of Z¯bulist¯n, 117 a a Ispahbudh¯ni ∼ of Azarb¯yj¯n, 150, a a a 152, 159, 173, 177, 184, 199, 204, 244, 248 Arraj¯n, see Veh-az-Amid-Kav¯d a a Arr¯n (Albania), 73, 116, 299, 300, 391 a Arrianus (historian), 26 Arsaces, listed under Arsacid Arsacid Ardav¯n, (ruled 216–224), 9, 42, a 45–47, 122, 125, 224, 361, 366, 367, 385

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I NDEX
† in 224 CE, 9, 42 Arsaces I, (ruled 247–211 BCE), 19, 24, 25, 300 K¯rin, son of Phraat IV, 26 a Koshm, daughter of Phraat IV, 26, 110 Mithradates I, (ruled 171–138 BCE), 20, 25, 359, 379, 402 Mithradates II, (ruled 123–88 BCE), 25, 359 Mithradates III, (ruled 57–54 BCE), 359 Mithradates IV, (ruled 129–147?), 359 Orodes II, (ruled 57–38 BCE), 462 Phraat IV, (ruled 38–2 BCE), 26, 110 Phraat V, (ruled 2 BCE–4 CE), 26 S¯ren, son of Phraat IV, 26 u Tiridates, brother of Vologeses, king of Armenia, 21 Vologeses, (ruled 51–78), 21, 338 Arsacids, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 19–27, 33, 35–37, 39, 42–49, 53, 57, 64, 86, 87, 96, 110, 112, 125, 126, 128, 129, 139, 182, 321, 323, 327, 328, 338, 347, 356, 358–362, 364, 366, 367, 371, 385, 386, 389, 402, 405, 410, 455, 459, 463, 504 Armenian ∼, 12, 13, 20, 42–45, 57, 72, 300, 359, 386, 388, 391 Georgian ∼, 44 religious policy of ∼, 24, 323, 359, 360 Arsakeia, see Rayy Arshak, listed under Arshakuni Arshakuni Arshak II, 338 Arshak III, 57 Artash¯s, 43, 300, 338 e Khosrov III, 43 † in 614 CE, 43 Khusrov I, 42 Tiran, 338 Tiridates I, 43, 388 Tiridates III, 44, 387 V˙amshapuh, 43, 338 r † in 614 CE, 43 Artaz, 300 art¯sht¯r¯n, 47 e aa Asaak, 19 As¯wira, 239–241, 274 a Asf¯djushnas, 156–158 a asha (Av. aša), 339, 350, 354, 357, 412, 499 aš@ma¯γa, see ahlam¯γ o o ˙ Ashkan¯ an, see Arsacids ıy¯ Asht¯t, listed under Mihr¯n a a ¯ o a As¯rist¯n, 150, 347, 382 Asparapet, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a aspbed, 98, 100, 101, 105, 115, 117, 216, 296, 364, 499 Aspebedes, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a asrav¯n, 47 a ¯ o a Assyria, see As¯rist¯n Aštat, see Asht¯t Mihr¯n a a Aštišat, 390 Asw¯r, listed under K¯rin a a ¯ ¯takhsh, see ¯ a Izad-i Adhar ¯ϑravan, see ¯srav¯n a a a Atrak, river, 19 ¯ Aturp¯t, 332, 334, 336, 345, 357 a Augusta Antonina, see Constantinople Avars, 301 Avest¯, 47, 124, 198, 325, 334–337, a 341, 342, 345, 347, 350, 352, 370, 371, 375, 394, 412, 428, 446, 499, 501, 504, 505, 507 Younger ∼, 47, 394, 500 Ayn Tamr, see Battle of ∼ ayy¯rs, 87, 434, 500 a ¯ a Az¯dbih, governor of H¯ 190, 198, . ıra, 199, 219, 468 son of ∼, 199, 219 az¯dh¯n, 29, 48, 500 a a Azarb¯yj¯n, xi, 6, 8, 39, 73, 103, 116, a a 117, 125, 127–130, 132, 149–153, 159, 173, 176–178, 184–186, 188, 189, 199, 204, 222, 229, 235, 241, 244, 245, 248, 249, 259, 262, 263, 275, 278, 279, 281, 290, 304, 306, 308, 322, 333, 347, 381, 392, 393, 397, 441, 442, 452, 454, 457, 459, 463, 467, 469, 503

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I NDEX
, variants: Atr(a)patakan; ¯ u a a Atropatene; Ad¯rb¯dag¯n Azarm¯ ıdukht, listed under S¯s¯nid aa B Ba’al, 327 al-B¯b, see Darband a B¯bak Khurramd¯ 6, 73, 392, 393, a ın, 425, 436, 437, 452, 459 B¯bak a , listed under S¯s¯nid aa B¯bak-i Behruw¯n, 89 a a B¯bakiya, 459 a Babaman Z¯dig¯n, a a Sh¯h¯ a ın B¯b-i Sul, 381, 386 a .¯ Babylonia, 80, 347, 358 Bactria, see Balkh Badakhsh¯n, 385 a B¯dgh¯ 277, 434, 435, 469 a ıs, ¯ B¯d¯sp¯n, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a u a a a Bagayarich, 388 Baghd¯d, 203, 219 a Bagratuni Smbat, 136–140, 142, 151, 153, 154, 173, 174, 275, 297, 298, 303, 304 , variants: Khusrov-Shum; Khusrow Shen¯m u † in 617 CE, 138, 298 as governor of Gurg¯n, 136–139, a 297 as governor of Khur¯s¯n, aa 138–140, 142, 297, 300, 303 Varaztirots , 153, 154, 173, 174, 235, 242, 243, 248, 249, 269, 298, 469 , variants: Khusrov-Shum; Khusrow Shen¯m u † around 643 CE, 249 Bagrewand, 103 Bahman, 499 Bahman, son of Isfand¯ ar, 135, 143 ıy¯ Bahr¯m a < Av. V@r@TraGna, 362, 389, 390, 411, 432, 440, 459 > Arm. Vahagn, 389 , variants: Verethragn¯; Vahr¯m; a a Vahagn (Arm.); V@r@TraGna (Av.) ∼ ﬁre, see ﬁre ¯ ∼-i Adargulb¯d, listed under a Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ ¯ ∼-i Aturm¯h, see below under M¯h a a ¯ Adhar ∼-i Ch¯b¯ listed under Mihr¯n u ın, a ∼-i M¯h Adhar, 101, 119–124 a ¯ ¯ , variants: Bahr¯m-i Adhar a ¯ Mah¯n; Bahr¯m-i Aturm¯h; a a a ¯ Wahr¯m-i Adurm¯h (on seals) a a † around 580–585 CE, 122 ∼ I, II, III, IV, V (G¯r), listed under u S¯s¯nid aa ∼ VI, Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ Mihr¯n a u ın a deity, 326, 327, 411 Kai ∼, listed under Kai son of Farrukhz¯d, listed under a Ispahbudh¯n a Bahr¯m¯ an a ıy¯ Bahr¯m ∼, 68 a P¯ uz ∼, 68 ır¯ ∗ Mihr¯ns, 68 a Bahrayn, 227 Bahuras¯ see Veh Ardash¯ ır, ır b¯j, see taxes a Bal¯sh, see Bil¯sh under S¯s¯nid a a aa Balkan, 301 Balkh, 20, 73, 74, 76, 126, 139, 175, 266, 322, 405, 406, 426 Greco–Bactrian states, 360 B¯md¯d, listed under Mazdak a a Bar¯z, 260, 425 a Barda a, 116, 117, 130, 403 bar¯ 145, 500 ıd, Barmakids, 175 Barshaw¯dg¯n, 40 a a B¯rusm¯, 203 a a Basrah, 36, 190, 192, 227, 236–238, . 243, 257, 272 B¯s¯ya, 434 au battle ∼ of Ahv¯z, 236, 469 a ∼ of Anb¯r, 200, 201, 468 a ∼ of Ayn Tamr, 168, 201, 206, 468 ∼ of Bridge, 168, 198, 213–220, 283, 468 , variants: Battle of al-Qarqus; al-Quss

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∼ of Buwayb, 218, 219, 468 ∼ of Carrhae, 462 ∼ of Dh¯t al-Sal¯sil, 192–194, 468 a a ∼ of D¯mat al-Jandal, 201, 468 u ∼ of Fir¯d, 168, 201, 468 a. ∼ of Gaugamela, 358 ∼ of Husayd, 201, 468 . . ∼ of Isfah¯n, 197, 213, 241, 247, . a 253, 469 ∼ of Jal¯l¯ , 222, 234–237, 242, 244, ua 245, 257, 469 ∼ of Kaskar, 201, 211, 212, 216, 468 ∼ of Madh¯r, 168, 193, 194, 218, a 468 ∼ of Maqr, 198, 211, 468 ∼ of Mut ah, 201 ∼ of Nam¯riq, 168, 207, 211–213, a 468 ∼ of Nih¯vand, 35, 175, 198, 215, a 216, 222, 234, 241–244, 246–248, 252, 275, 469 ∼ of Q¯disiya, 11, 35, 157, 186, 197, a 216, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230–236, 242, 244, 257, 269, 291, 469 ∼ of R¯m Hurmurz, 469 a ∼ of T¯w¯s, 238 .a u ∼ of Tustar, 469 ∼ of Ubullah, 190–193, 198, 227, 237, 283, 468 ∼ of Ullays, 195, 196, 198, 203, 211, 468 ∼ of Veh Ardash¯ 199, 468 ır, ∼ of W¯j R¯dh, 248, 249, 278, 469 a u ∼ of Walajah, 168, 195, 468 ∼ of Yarm¯k, 202 u Kai Khusrow’s ∼ at F¯r¯b, 116 aa ¯ B¯vandids, see Al-i B¯vands a a Bawi, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a Bayhaq, 246 bazm (banquet), 389 ¯ o a B¯t Aram¯y¯, see As¯rist¯n e a e Bet-Dar¯y¯, 48 a e B¯zhan, listed under K¯rin e a Bih¯d¯niya, 434 a u Bih¯far¯ 6, 354, 393, 426–437, 439, a ıd, 445, 451, 452, 459 † in 749 CE, 436 followers of ∼, 393, 436 Bih¯far¯ a ıdiya, see Bih¯far¯ followers a ıd, Bil¯sh, listed under S¯s¯nid a aa B¯ al¯d, 417 ın¯ u B¯ un, 394 ıset¯ Bist¯m, 112, 213, 253, 261 .a Bithynia, 1 Boe, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a Bolberd, 74 fortress of ∼, 71 gold mines of ∼, 71 Bolum, see Bolberd ∗ Bozorg-Mehr, D¯dmihr K¯rin, a a 114, 126, 329 Brahmans, 328, 332, 419 bridge, see Battle of ∼ Buddhists, 175, 328, 330, 332, 335, 419 Bukayr b. Abdall¯h, 278, 279, 469 a Bukh¯r¯, 126, 406 aa Bulgh¯r, 314 a bull, listed under Fereyd¯n, Mihr u worship, tauroctony, Taurus bulla, see seals Bundahishn, 339, 375, 376, 405, 411, 412, 446, 452 Bundos the Manichean, 344 Buny¯n, 237 a B¯r¯ndukht, listed under S¯s¯nid ua aa Bur¯zih, see Gur¯zih S¯ ren a a u Burs, 203 Burz¯ Mihr, see ﬁre of ∼ ın Burz¯ Sh¯h, listed under Mihr¯n ın a a Burz¯ an, 364 ın¯ B¯st, see Bist¯m u .a Buwayb, see Battle of ∼ Buyids, 394, 446, 454, 463 Byzantines, passim Byzantium city, see Constantinople empire, passim C Cabades, Qub¯d under S¯s¯nid a aa Caesaria ∼ in Cappadocia, 141 ∼ in Palestine, 177 caesaropapism, 9, 500

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Caliph ∼ Ab¯ Bakr, (ruled 632–634), 4, u 167, 168, 170, 178, 190, 191, 207, 257, 282–285, 465 † in 634, 207, 257 ∼ H¯r¯n al-Rash¯ (ruled 786–809), au ıd, 165 ∼ Mahd¯ (ruled 775–785), 316, 439 ı, ∼ Mansur, (ruled 754–775), 315, .¯ 316, 437–441, 445, 449, 451 ∼ Mu ¯wiya, (ruled 661–680), 465 a ∼ Mu tasim, (ruled 833–842), 62 . ∼ Sulaym¯n b. Abdalmalik, (ruled a 715–717), 310, 311 ∼ Umar, (ruled 634–644), 4, 167, 168, 170, 193, 207, 211, 220, 227, 233, 234, 237–242, 247, 249, 255, 259, 271, 282, 465 ∼ Uthm¯n, (ruled 644–656), 257, a 259, 271 Caoses, Kay¯s under S¯s¯nid u aa Carmenia, 50 Carrhae, see Battle of ∼ Caspian ∼ Sea, 19, 20, 36, 72, 92, 112, 231, 296, 300, 314 ∼ gates, 300 Caucasia, 24, 45, 53, 55, 73, 76, 116, 117, 125, 140, 231, 278, 279, 299, 300, 306, 454 Central Asia, 24, 310, 314, 406, 418, 419, 425 Chag¯d-i D¯it¯ see Chinvat Bridge a a ı, Chagh¯n¯ 382 a ı, Chalcedon, 1, 141 Chihr-Burz¯n, e S¯ ah-i Burz¯ ım¯ ın K¯rin a Chinvat Bridge, 353, 432, 500 Chionites, see Kidarites Chishmih-i S¯, 66 u Chor (pass), 300 Chorasmia, see Khw¯razm a Chosroids, see Arsacids, Georgian Christians, 13, 323, 325, 327, 328, 330, 332–335, 337, 347–349, 362, 386, 387, 419 Armenian ∼, 12, 44, 349, 386–388, 390–392 Cilicia, 177 Circle of Justice, 59, 93, 342, 343, 346, 347, 352, 354, 356, 357, 368, 380, 390, 400, 457, 458 city kingly ∼, 38, 39, 500 polis, 38, 504 coins ∼ of Arsaces I, 25 ∼ of Azarm¯ ıdukht, 208 ∼ of B¯r¯ndukht, 208–209, 217–218 ua ∼ of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 132 a u ın, ∼ of Farrukh Hormozd, 205 ∼ of Hormozd I, 331 ∼ of Kai P¯ uz, 385 ır¯ ∼ of Khursh¯ Sh¯h, 378 ıd a ∼ of Khusrow Parv¯ 137 ız, ∼ of Vist¯hm (P¯ uz), 133 a ır¯ ∼ of Yazdgird III, 221–223, 246 Arsacid ∼, 360 confederacy church–state ∼, 35, 324–326, 333–336, 457 Sasanian–Parthian ∼, 2–5, 12, 13, 15, 17, 29, 33, 37, 42, 45, 53, 56, 59, 62, 83, 97, 101, 110, 122, 127, 133, 135, 140, 159, 172, 173, 182, 211, 249, 309, 397, 455, 456 Constantine, see Emperor Constantine or Constans Constantinople, see also Byzantium, 1, 30, 141, 143 Constantius, see Emperor Constantius Copper Fortress, see R¯y¯ Dizh u ın cow, listed under Fereyd¯n, Mihr u worship, tauroctony Crassus, 462 Ctesian method, 9, 14, 113, 116–118, 278, 405, 462, 500 Ctesiphon, 35, 41, 68, 77–79, 81, 84, 127, 178, 180, 184, 195, 196, 198–200, 210, 215, 218, 219, 231, 234, 244, 245, 251, 289, 460 cura palatii, 126, 500

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D D¯b¯yids, progeny of D¯b¯yih, listed a u a u ¯ under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a ¯ D¯b¯yih, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a u a a D¯d-Burz-Mihr, see D¯dmihr K¯rin a a a D¯dmihr a ∼ K¯rin, listed under K¯rin a a son of Farrukh¯n-i Bozorg, listed a ¯ under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a ¯ son of Khursh¯ listed under Al-i ıd, J¯m¯sp a a Dahae, 19, 20, 23, 25, 504 Dahh¯k, 40, 354, 370–372, 374 . . .a d¯ ¯ 416, 435, 449 a ı, Damascus, 141, 207, 318 Dam¯vand, 40, 47, 90, 253, 305, 309, a 310, 369, 370, 372, 373, 469 , see also Alburz D¯mgh¯n, 251 a a Dara, 102, 125, 141 Darband, 215, 216, 231, 242, 279, 280, 299, 300 d¯r-i Mihr, 357, 375, 388 a , see also mithraeum, mithrad¯na a dar¯ ıgbed, 126, 186, 500 Dasht-i B¯r¯ 61 a ın, Daskhurants‘i (historian), 300 Dastab¯, 243 a dast¯r, 391, 400, 500 a dastgird, see city, kingly Dastimays¯n, 236 a dastwar, 323, 324, 500 Datoyean, 139 da w¯, 414, 416, 500 a dayeakordi, 71, 74, 268, 500 Daylam, 40, 47, 72, 248, 302, 311, 442 dehk¯n, 85, 92, 211, 250, 260, 463, 500, a 505 D¯nkard, 88, 322, 323, 325, 327, 336, e 337, 341, 480 derafsh-i K¯v¯ an, 117, 217, 371 a ıy¯ dev-worship, 322, 328, 331 Dh¯t al-Sal¯sil, see Battle of ∼ a a Dh¯ Q¯r, 220 u a Dhu ’l-H¯jib, epithet of Bahman .a J¯dh¯yih, 196, 198, 202, 213, 217, a u 241, 247, 248, 253 † around 642 CE, 213, 248 Dhu ’l-Man¯qib, a Farrukh¯n-i a ¯ Bozorg under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a dibh¯r¯n, 47 ea Dihist¯n, 19, 22, 23, 49, 116, 254 a ∼ culture, 23 dihq¯n, see dehk¯n a a D¯ ar, 243, 244, 252, 275, 469 ın¯ D¯ ınawar, 36 Dionysius (historian), 177 d¯ an, 227, 501 ıw¯ ¯ D¯ arbakr, see Amid ıy¯ dizh ∼-i Kal¯n¯n, 367 a a R¯y¯ ∼, 126, 266, 406, 439, 441, u ın 442, 446 Kang ∼, 409, 412 o a driy¯š¯n ˇ¯dagg¯w ud d¯dvar, see o a ja j¯dh¯yih a u drug, 322, 412 D¯mat al-Jandal, see Battle of ∼ u Dumb¯vand, see Dam¯vand a a Dura Europos, see also mithraeum, at Dura Europos, 22, 389 dvandva, 331, 501 Dvin, 149 dynasticism, 2, 20, 35, 53–56 , see also feudalism; étatism E Edessa, 177 Egypt, 20, 141–143, 335 Elias of Nisibis (historian), 299 E˙ lmants‘, 300 Emperor ∼ Constans II, (ruled 641–668), 176 ∼ Constantine, (ruled 306–337), 335 ∼ Constantius, (ruled 337–361), 334 ∼ Gordian III, (ruled 238–244), 400 ∼ Heraclius, (ruled 610–641), 1, 3, 30, 141, 142, 144, 145, 147–149, 151, 152, 174, 176, 177, 196, 201, 202, 456 ∼ Julian, (ruled 361–363), 57 † in 363 CE, 57 ∼ Justinian, (ruled 527–565), 102, 110

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∼ Maurice, (ruled 582–602), 30, 127, 143, 154 † in 602 CE, 143 ∼ Nero, (ruled 54–68), 43, 388 ∼ Philip the Arab, (ruled 244–249), 400 ∼ Phocas, (ruled 602–610), 143 ∼ Tiberius II, (ruled 574, 578–582), 93 ∼ Valerian, (ruled 253–260), 400 ¯r¯n, 411 ea ¯r¯n-dibh¯rbadh, 47, 501 ea e ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed, 47, 94, 99, 100, 104, 105, ea a 115–117, 153, 156, 173, 181, 205, 216, 250, 290, 295–297, 379, 405, 462, 470, 501–505 ¯ a Er¯nshahr, 33, 39, 40, 407–409 ¯ Ešm, see Kheshm étatism, 2, 9–11, 26, 55, 56, 412, 456 , see also feudalism; dynasticism Euphrates, 177, 198, 389, 462 exaggerators, see ghul¯t a F ¯ Fahr¯n, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a a Fargh¯nah, 258 a Farh¯d-i Mihr Burz¯ 68 a ın, Far¯ ıburz, listed under Mihr¯n a Far¯ see K¯h-i K¯rin ım, u a ¯ Farnbagh, see ﬁre of Adhar ∼ farr, 48, 57, 66, 289, 326, 354, 363, 367, 370, 371, 376, 390, 391, 409, 411, 412, 458, 501, 506 , variants: farn; farrah; xwarra; khvarenah; p‘ark‘(Arm.); Kavyan Fortune; xv ar@nah (Av.) ram as symbol of ∼, 48, 367, 391, 500 Farrukh Hormozd, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a Farrukh¯n a , Farrukh Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n a ¯ ∼-i Bozorg, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a ∼-i Farrukhz¯d, listed under a Ispahbudh¯n a ¯ ∼-i K¯chak, listed under Al-i u J¯m¯sp a a ¯ cousin of Khursh¯ listed under Al-i ıd, J¯m¯sp a a Farrukhz¯d, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a a Farrukhz¯d Adharmag¯n, 146 a ¯ a F¯rs, 22, 36, 38, 39, 48, 61, 63, 64, 76, a 125, 148, 175, 190, 194, 205, 209, 214–217, 221–223, 227, 236–238, 241, 242, 246, 257, 262, 273, 274, 334, 363, 367, 408, 438, 469, 483, 499, 503, 504 Farvardig¯n, 430 a Fas¯, 344 a Faustus of Byzantium (historian), 156 Fereyd¯n, 77, 354, 370–377, 409, 414 u ∼ and cow worship, 373 feudalism, 24–26, 37, 41, 49, 52–57, 66 , see also dynasticism; étatism Fihl, 207 . Fir¯d, see Battle of ∼ a. F¯ ırak Mihr¯n, see Shahrvar¯z Mihr¯n a a a fire ¯ ∼ of Adhar Farnbagh, 328, 362, 363, 368, 378, 386, 458 ¯ ∼ of Adhar Gushnasp, 153, 328, 362, 363, 368, 378, 386, 458 ∼ of An¯hit-Ardash¯ 332 a ır, ∼ of Bahr¯m, 327, 362, 412 a ∼ of Burz¯ Mihr, 68, 115, 328, ın 362–365, 368, 372, 378, 379, 386, 400, 402, 404, 447, 458 ∼ of Far¯z-mar¯-¯war-khud¯y¯, 61 a aa a a ∼ of K¯rd¯dh¯n, 61 a a a ∼ of M¯jusnas¯n, 61 a a ∼ of Mihr Nars¯ an, 61 ıy¯ ∼ of Zurv¯nd¯dh¯n, 61 a a a ∼ temple in Karkoy, 364 ¯ as a deity, see ¯ Izad-i Adhar ordeal by ∼, 334, 356–357, 367 Firr¯ see K¯h-i K¯rin ım, u a F¯ uz¯n, 174, 175, 177–181, 183, ır¯ a 196–198, 211, 213–216, 218–220, 223, 231–235, 241–243, 247, 257, 467–469 , variants: Khusrow F¯ uz; P¯ uz ır¯ ır¯ Khusrow; ∗ N¯w Khusrow; e al-Bayr¯z¯n; Bund¯r u a a † in 642 CE, 175, 198, 242, 243

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frashegird (Healing), 339, 501 Fus Farrukh, see Farrukh Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n a fut¯h, 2, 4, 13, 15, 16, 162, 164–166, u. 168, 170–173, 178, 189, 190, 227, 233, 235, 249, 270, 271, 273, 281–284, 293, 304, 420, 462, 465, 468 G Gandhara, 335 Gandzak, 149, 152, 153, 176 G¯th¯s, 322, 350, 394, 499, 501 a a Gaugamela, see Battle of ∼ G¯vb¯rih, J¯ J¯ ansh¯h the Cow a a ıl-i ıl¯ a Devotee, 292, 299, 302, 374, 377, 398, 440, 447, 459 , see also J¯ J¯ ansh¯h Al-i J¯m¯sp ıl-i ıl¯ a ¯ a a G¯w¯n, see J¯b¯n a a a a Gay, see Isfah¯n . a Gelam, Ge˜ see G¯ an lk, ıl¯ Georgia, 43, 44, 48, 73, 74, 102 G¯v, 375 e , see also under K¯rin a Ghassanids, 203 gh¯z¯ 285 a ı, Ghazna, 288 ghul¯t, 394, 501 a G¯ an, 5, 40, 65, 68, 108, 114, 129, 130, ıl¯ 136, 137, 255, 263, 296–298, 300–303, 305, 307, 309, 373, 377, 398, 457, 463, 503 g¯ ıg, 339, 346, 374, 429, 501 ıt¯ Gnostics, 330 g¯har, see agnatic o Gołon, see G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n o o a Gor¯z, see Shahrvar¯z Mihr¯n a a a Gordian, see Emperor Gordian Gorg¯n M¯ ad, 103, 117 e ıl¯ , see also G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n o o a G¯r-g¯n, see G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n o o o o a gorz, see ox-headed mace g¯s¯n, 10 oa Gostaham, Vist¯hm a Gousanastades, see Gushn¯spd¯d a a Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ Greco–Bactrian states, see Balkh Guaramids, see Arsacids, Georgian G¯darz, listed under K¯rin u a gumezishn (Mixture), 339, 501 Gurd¯yih, 163 u Gurg¯n, 20, 23, 36, 49, 67, 90, 112, a 136, 137, 139, 209, 248, 250, 253–257, 261, 274, 292, 296, 297, 302–304, 311, 312, 316, 317, 360, 381, 382, 386, 397, 420, 438, 442, 444, 460, 469, 503 , see also mint of ∼ Gurg¯n M¯ ad, see G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n e ıl¯ o o a ¯ Gushnasp, see ﬁre of Adhar ∼ Gushn¯sp, ruler of Tabarist¯n, 86–88, a a . 91, 361 , see also Letter of Tansar Gushn¯spd¯d, listed under a a Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ Gusht¯sp, 375 a H had¯ 165, 501, 505 ıth, . Haft¯nb¯kht, 367 a u Hajar, 226 Hajj¯j b. Y¯suf, 309, 310 u . a Hamad¯n, 90, 152, 243, 248, 249, 438, a 469 han¯mand, 353 a hargbed, 61, 501 al-H¯rith b. Surayj, 426 .a Harr¯n, see battle, Carrhae . a H¯r¯n al-Rash¯ listed under Caliph au ıd, H¯shim b. Utbah, 235, 469 a al-H¯shim¯ Abb¯s b. Muhammad, 317 a ı, a . H¯shimiya, 425 a haz¯rbed, 60, 62, 63, 73, 100, 104, 501, a 506 Hecatompylos, see Q¯mis u Hellenistic, 23, 38, 48, 358, 387 Hephthalites, 75, 76, 114, 116, 126, 139, 267, 297, 299, 300, 380–382, 384, 386, 408, 410, 444 Heraclius, see Emperor Heraclius Her¯t, 65, 71, 139, 209, 266, 277, 463 a , see also mint of ∼ herbad, 61, 85, 86, 243, 331, 403, 427, 502 Herodotus, 358

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hijra, 1, 15, 167–171, 190–195, 199, 200, 202, 214, 220, 235, 248, 253, 281, 283, 284, 317, 422, 449, 465 H¯ 69, 109, 170, 178, 190, 192, 198, ıra, . 199, 202, 207, 211, 219, 227 Hish¯m b. Muhammad, 172 a . Hormozd ∼ I, II, III, IV, listed under S¯s¯nid aa ∼ V, Farrukh Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n a general, 191–196, 468 † around 629 CE, 193, 194, 196 ¯ son of Khursh¯ listed under Al-i ıd, J¯m¯sp a a son of Yazdgird II, listed under S¯s¯nid aa Hormozd-Ardash¯ see Ahv¯z ır, a Hrev, see Her¯t a Hudhayfah, 243, 248, 293 . h¯iti, see hutukhsh¯n u a Hulw¯n, 215, 216, 235, 242, 245, 315, a . 469 Humayd b. Qahtabah, 435, 449, 450 . .. Huns, 65, 72–74, 299, 300, 382 , see also Hephthalites, Kidarites Hurmuz¯n, xii, 232, 233, 236–238, a 240–242, 245, 247, 257, 469 Hurmuzjird, 203 Husayn, 465 . † in 680 CE, 465 H¯shang, listed under S¯s¯nid u aa Husayd, see Battle of ∼ . . hutukhsh¯n, 47 a Hydaspes, see V¯ asp¯ Achaemenid ısht¯ a Hyrcania, see Gurg¯n a I ib¯ha ’l-nis¯, 82, 93, 502 a a Iberia, 44, 50, 103 Ibl¯ 289, 502 ıs, Ibn al-Kalb¯ 259 ı, Ibn Ash ath Muhammad, 309 . Ibn Ish¯q al-Turk, 425 .a Ibn Ish¯q, 14, 172 .a Ikramah, 145, 172 Im¯m, 293, 414, 425, 502 a Indra (dev), 322 Innaios, 333 inscriptions , see also Kird¯ ır ∼ at Barm-i Delak, 332 ∼ at Naqsh-i Rajab, 50 ∼ at Naqsh-i Rostam, 333 ∼ at Persepolis, 358 ∼ of Tiridates I, 388 ∼ of T¯q-i Bust¯n, 326 a a Ardash¯ I’s ∼ at Naqsh-i Rostam ır (ANRm), 361 Kird¯ ∼ at Naqsh-i Rajab ır’s (KKRb), 327, 332, 333 Kird¯ ∼ at Naqsh-i Rostam ır’s (KNRm), 327, 332 Kird¯ ∼ at Ka ba-i Zartusht ır’s (KKZ), 327, 332 Kird¯ ∼ at Sar Mashhad (KSM), ır’s 327, 332, 333, 389 ¯ a Sh¯p¯r I’s ∼ at H¯j¯ Ab¯d (ŠH), 48 a u .aı Sh¯p¯r I’s ∼ at Ka ba-i Zartusht a u (ŠKZ), 38, 49, 50, 64, 505 Sh¯pur I’s ∼ at B¯ ap¯r, 400 a ısh¯ u Darius’ ∼ at B¯ un (Beh), 394 ıset¯ Narseh’s ∼ at Paikuli (NPi), 321, 333 Iraj, 414, 444 Iraq, passim, 4, 15, 503 , see also Mesopotamia isbahbadh al-bil¯d, see ¯r¯n-sp¯hbed a ea a . Isdigousnas, see ¯ Izadgushasp Mihr¯n a Isfah¯n, 49, 133, 136, 139, 197, 213, a . 238, 241, 242, 244–248, 253, 258, 259, 265, 301, 347, 438, 469, 514 , see also Battle of ∼ Isfand¯ ar, listed under Ispahbudh¯n ıy¯ a Isfand¯ ars, 49, 60, 135, 143, 375, 406 ıy¯ Ishmaelites, Arabs Ishtar, 387 isn¯d, 145, 162, 193, 218, 505 a ispahbud, xi, 114, 180, 185, 254–256, 265, 295, 302, 304–306, 309–314, 316, 317, 405, 426, 438, 440, 444, 445, 452, 459, 502, 505 , see also sp¯hbed a Ispahbudh¯n, 3, 8, 27, 42, 49, 63, 83, a 96, 99, 101, 104, 106–108, 110–112, 115, 118, 122, 127–133,

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136, 137, 143, 146, 148, 151, 153–156, 159, 163, 164, 173, 176, 177, 181, 182, 186–189, 197, 204–208, 212, 228, 231, 244, 248–250, 257, 259, 260, 262–264, 268, 269, 274–278, 280, 290–298, 302–309, 365, 381, 392, 409, 413, 424, 444, 448, 451, 456, 458, 460–462, 467, 470, 471, 505 Ispahbudh¯n a Asparapet, maternal uncle of Khusrow II, 105–108, 111, 112, 117, 122, 127, 132, 188, 290–292, 462, 471 , variants: Parthian and Pahlaw aspet; sparapet; Aspebedes (by Simocatta) † in 586 CE, 106, 108, 112, 122, 127, 131, 291 named Khurbund¯d(¯yih); a u Kharr¯d, 107, 290 a named Sh¯p¯r, 106, 107, a u 290–292, 295, 471 Aspebedes, maternal uncle of Khusrow I, 106, 107, 111, 212, 268, 291, 292, 471 † around 532 CE, 111, 268 Bahr¯m, 279, 306, 308, 469, 471 a Bawi, 107, 290, 471 , variants: B¯v; Boe a Boe, 107, 290–292 Farrukh Hormozd, (ruled 631), 143–147, 150–153, 155, 156, 159, 169, 173, 174, 176–179, 184–190, 200, 204–208, 210, 224, 228, 235, 244, 248, 257, 262–264, 275, 276, 278, 291–293, 393, 424, 438, 440, 462, 471 , variants: Farrukh¯n; a Khurrukh¯n; Farruh¯n; Fus a a Farrukh; Z¯dh¯n Farrukh-i a a Shahrd¯r¯n; Pusfarrukh; aa Saqr¯kh; Kho˙okh Ormizd; u r Hormozd V , sometimes confused with his son Farrukhz¯d a , appears as B¯v in T¯r¯kh-i a aı ¯ Tabarist¯n; see under Al-i B¯vand a a . † in 631 CE, 185–187, 206, 207, 210 Farrukh¯n-i Farrukhz¯d, 251, 471 a a Farrukhz¯d, 126, 150, 151, 153–156, a 158, 159, 173, 175, 176, 183, 184, 186–189, 204, 208, 210, 222, 228–232, 234, 235, 241–246, 248, 250–257, 259–266, 269, 270, 272, 275–281, 291–294, 298, 302–309, 398, 424, 448, 451, 461–463, 469, 471 , variants: al-Z¯ ı Ab¯ ınab¯ u ’l-Farrukh¯n; Vab¯ Farrukh¯n; a ı a Khurraz¯d-Mihr; Kho˙okhazat a r , sometimes called Farrukh¯n and a confused with his father Farrukh Hormozd , appears as B¯v in T¯r¯kh-i a aı ¯ Tabarist¯n; see under Al-i B¯vand a a . † around 665 CE, 293, 294, 306–308, 451 Isfand¯ ar, 248, 249, 278, 279, 306, ıy¯ 308, 469, 471 , variants: Jarm¯ ıdhih b. al-Farrukhz¯d; Isfand¯ adh b. a ıy¯ al-Farrukhz¯r a Rustam, 148–153, 156, 157, 163, 173, 176, 185–189, 197, 206–220, 222–232, 234, 235, 244, 246, 248, 257, 259, 263, 269, 275–278, 462, 464, 468, 469, 471 † in 635 CE, 216, 228, 233–235, 244 Shahr¯m, 251, 471 a Suhr¯b, 293, 307, 308, 471 a T¯ uyih, son of Vist¯hm, 163, 189, ır¯ a 212, 232, 468, 469, 471 Vind¯yih, 106–108, 112, 117, 122, u 127, 128, 131, 132, 134, 153, 155, 158, 163, 187–189, 204, 212, 231, 268, 291, 297, 409, 471 , variants: Vndoy; Bind¯ya; u Binduw¯n; Bind¯; Bindoes a u † around 594 CE, 112, 132, 138, 155, 163, 189

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Vind¯yih, son of Vist¯hm, 134, 163, u a 189, 212, 232, 468, 469, 471 Vist¯hm, 8, 52, 63, 68, 80, 96, a 106–108, 110, 112, 117, 118, 122, 127, 128, 131–138, 143, 151, 154, 155, 158, 163, 181, 182, 187–189, 212, 213, 232, 250, 268, 270, 275, 290–292, 297, 300–303, 409, 442, 462, 470, 471 , variants: Bist¯m; Wistakhm (on .a seals); Gostaham; Vstam; Bestam , appears sometimes as B¯v in a ¯ T¯r¯kh-i Tabarist¯n; see under Al-i aı a . B¯vand a ∼ in D¯ ınawar¯ 109, 110 ı, † in 600 CE, 112, 137, 138, 155, 189, 297 Istakhr, see Stakhr .. Istanbul, see Constantinople Iy¯d, 169, 201, 202 a ¯ Izadgushasp, listed under Mihr¯n a ¯ Izad Gushnasp, listed under Mihr¯n a ¯ ¯ Izad-i Adhar, 327, 409, 411, 412, 432 J Jabalah b. S¯lim, 461 a J¯b¯n, 190, 195, 196, 199, 211–213, 468 a a ja ˇ¯dagg¯w, see j¯dh¯yih o a u j¯dh¯yih, 107, 115, 195, 197, 258, 265, a u 501, 502 ∗ ¯ a Ab¯n ∼, Farrukhz¯d a Ispahbudh¯n, 197, 258, 264, 265 a Bahman ∼, variants: Dhu ’l-H¯jib; .a ∗ Mard¯nsh¯h, 195–202, 212, 213, a a 217–219, 241, 242, 247, 248, 253, 468, 469 † around 642 CE, 213, 248 Hormozd ∼, 197, 202, 203, 468 ∗ Rustam ∼, Rustam Ispahbudh¯n, 197 a Shahrvar¯z ∼, listed under Mihr¯n a a J¯hiz, 34, 402 a. J¯l¯ us, 157, 158, 213, 216, 217, 225, a ın¯ 226, 232, 460, 468 Jal¯l¯ , see Battle of ∼ ua J¯m¯sp a a ¯ brother of Qub¯d, listed under Al-i a J¯m¯sp a a brother of Khusrow I, listed under S¯s¯nid aa counselor of V¯ asp¯, 385 ısht¯ a J¯m¯sp N¯mak, 405–411, 413, 414, 446 a a a Jamsh¯ 354, 370, 373 ıd, Javitean Khusrow, Varaztirots‘ Bagratuni Jawhar b. Marr¯r al- Ijl¯ 315, 438–440 a ı, Jazira, 318 Jerusalem, 139, 141–143, 176, 177 Jews, 323, 325, 328, 330, 332, 335, 337, 347–349, 419 Jib¯l, 194, 215, 235, 238, 242, 438 a jih¯d, 312 a ¯ J¯ ansh¯h, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp ıl¯ a a a ¯ J¯ J¯ ansh¯h, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp ıl-i ıl¯ a a a Jirih, 61 j¯ ızya, see taxes Johannes of Ephesus (historian), 120 Julian, see Emperor Julian Jundays¯b¯r, 237 a u ¯ Jushnas, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a Jushnasf, 288 Jushnasm¯h, see M¯h¯dharjushnas a a a Justinian, see Emperor Justinian Justinus (historian), 25 J¯zj¯n¯n, 259, 426 u a a K Ka ba, 439, 443, 445, 447, 459, 502, 505 Ka ba-i Zartusht, see inscriptions K¯bul, 86 a K¯bulsh¯h, 46 a a Kadiköy, see Chalcedon Kai ∼ Khusrow, 39, 116–118 ∼ Bahr¯m, 411, 412, 443, 446, 459 a ∼ Kav¯d, 39, 385 a ∼ V¯ asp¯, 385, 406 ısht¯ a Kaj¯, 309 u Kal¯t, 266 a K¯mind¯r, daughter of Nars¯ 192 a a ı, Kamsarakan, 74 K¯rinid descent of ∼, 42 a kan¯rang, 154, 261, 265–267, 269, 271, a 272 Kan¯rang¯ an, 3, 42, 49, 67, 68, 111, a ıy¯ 154, 155, 173, 177, 233, 265–272,

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274–277, 280, 298, 303–306, 309, 424, 435, 448–451, 460, 463 Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ ¯ Adhargulb¯d, 111, 267–269 a † around 540 CE, 269 Ab¯ Silt Kan¯r¯ 276 u a ı, Bahr¯m, 268, 269 a Gushn¯spd¯d, 267, 268 a a † around 488 CE, 268 Kan¯r¯ng-i Tus, 232, 263, 265, 266, aa .¯ 269–273, 275–277, 469 , variants: Kan¯ra; Kan¯z a a Kan¯ra, 154, 232 a Salim, 276 Shahr¯ ar, 232, 233, 269, 469 ıy¯ † in 635 CE, 233, 269 Kand¯s¯n, 309 ua k¯rd¯r, 61, 90 a a Kard¯r¯ a ıgan, 92, 146 Kardarigas, Farrukh Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n, 149 a Kar¯n, see K¯rins e a K¯rin a sp¯hbed of Khursh¯ listed under a ıd, K¯rin a son of Sukhr¯, listed under K¯rin a a son of Phraat IV, listed under Arsacid K¯rin a ¯ Adhar Val¯sh, 302, 303, 307 a Asw¯r, 273, 274, 276, 469 a B¯ ızhan, 117 Burz¯ Sh¯h, 273, 274, 276, 469 ın a D¯dburz¯ 113, 277 a ın, , perhaps a Ctesian reﬂection of D¯dmihr below a D¯dmihr, 68, 114, 115, 121, 122, a 126, 296, 302, 329, 379, 400 , variants: D¯dburz¯ a ınmihr; Burzmihr; D¯d-Burz-Mihr (on a seals); ∗ Bozorg-Mehr; ∗ D¯dburz¯ a ın † in 575 CE, 379 G¯v, 117 e G¯darz, 116, 117 u K¯rin, rebel against the Arabs, 277, a 278, 469 † around 654 CE, 278 K¯rin, son of Sukhr¯, 113, 295 a a K¯rin, sp¯hbed of Khursh¯ a a ıd, 314–316 Mard¯nsh¯h Masmugh¯n, 253, 305, a a a . 309, 469 Mihr, son of Sukhr¯, 379 a † in 620 CE, 379 Perozamat, 42 , see also Kamsarakan Q¯rin, general, 193–196, 243, 468, a 469 † around 630 CE, 194–196 Rah¯m, 117 a S¯ ah-i Burz¯ 119–122, 461 ım¯ ın, , variants: Chihr-Burz¯n (on e seals) † around 580–585 CE, 122 Sukhr¯, 73, 75–81, 101, 104, 113, a 114, 117, 120, 151, 274, 277, 294–296, 379, 383–385, 444 † around 495 CE, 81, 385 ∗ Sunb¯d, 6, 275, 287, 315–317, 354, a 376, 378, 405, 425, 426, 437–452, 458, 459 † in 755, 315–316, 438, 440, 444 Val¯sh, 293, 294, 307–309 a † around 674 CE, 308, 309 Zarmihr, 73–75, 77 Zarmihr, son of Sukhr¯, 73, 81, 113, a 114, 151, 209, 277, 295, 379 † in 558 CE, 379 Karin (city), 71 K¯rins, 3, 6, 26, 42, 49, 50, 68, 73–81, a 83, 96, 99, 101, 104, 112–118, 120–122, 129, 130, 135, 151, 193, 209, 243, 244, 252, 253, 260, 274–278, 281, 294–298, 302–309, 314, 329, 364, 371, 374, 376, 378–386, 392, 402, 424, 444, 448, 449, 451, 452, 458, 460, 461, 463, 469, 470 kar¯ see qan¯t ız, a Karka de L¯d¯n, 334 e a Karkeh (river), 334 Karkoy, listed under ﬁre

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I NDEX
K¯rn¯mag-i Ardash¯ P¯pag¯n, 46, a a ır-i a a 366, 367, 378 Kartli, see Iberia Kaskar, 212 , see also Battle of ∼ Katishk‘, 65 Kav¯d, listed under Kai; for Qub¯d, see a a under S¯s¯nid aa K¯veh, 370, 371 a Kay¯nids, 33, 39, 77, 86, 103, 104, 126, a 264, 335, 362, 367, 385, 386, 409–411, 458, 460, 462 , see also Kai S¯s¯nid pseudo-genealogy to ∼, 33, aa 77, 335, 385–386 Kay¯marth, 9, 36, 370 u Kay¯s, listed under S¯s¯nid u aa Keresasp¯, see S¯m Nar¯ an a a ım¯ Kh¯lid b. Wal¯ 4, 166, 168, 170, a ıd, 190–193, 199, 200, 202, 281, 478 Khal¯ b. Khayy¯t, 190, 203, 277 ıfat a. Kh¯q¯n, 78, 103, 104, 113, 124, 126, a a 129, 209, 261, 288, 295, 380, 383–385, 400 khar¯j, see taxes a Kharijites, 309, 310 Kharr¯d-i Mihr P¯ uz, 68 a ır¯ Khashm, see Kheshm Khazars, 123, 231, 279, 280, 299 Khekewand, 137 Kheshm, xii, 407, 411, 445, 502 Khidash, 425 Khod¯ N¯mah, see Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a a a Kho˙eam, r Shahrvar¯z Mihr¯n a a Kho˙okh Ormizd, see Farrukh r Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n a Khoshnav¯z, 383 a Khrokht, 139 Khud¯yn¯mag, see Xw ad¯y-N¯mag a a a a Khuramd¯ see Mazdakites ın, Khur¯s¯n, 5, 8, 19, 20, 22, 39, 68, 74, aa 108, 111–115, 129–131, 134, 136–139, 153, 183, 185–187, 189, 195, 209, 210, 215, 216, 232, 242–244, 246, 249, 252–259, 261–267, 270–278, 281, 288, 290, 293, 296–298, 300, 303–308, 310, 311, 315, 316, 318, 321, 364, 367, 379, 393, 397, 405, 406, 408, 414–418, 426, 427, 437–439, 445, 446, 448–450, 457–459, 469, 503 ∼ highway, 437 Inner ∼, 266, 305, 306, 309, 379, 417–419, 425, 427, 435, 442, 445, 448–451 Outer ∼, 155, 266, 305, 417–419, 426, 435, 437, 442, 464 Khuraybah, 192 Khurbund¯d, see Bawi Ispahbudh¯n a a Khurramiya, 425 ¯ Khursh¯ Sh¯h, listed under Al-i ıd a J¯m¯sp a a Khushnav¯z, 77 a Khusrov, listed under Arshakuni Khusrov-Shum, Smbat or Varaztirots‘ Bagratuni Khusrow , variants: Xusrau; Kisr¯; Chosroes a ∼ I (Nowsh¯ an), II (Parv¯ listed ırv¯ ız), under S¯s¯nid aa ∼ Shen¯m, 140, 174, 235, 242, 243, u 248, 249 , Smbat or Varaztirots‘ Bagratuni Khizrav¯n ∼, 130 a Kai ∼, listed under Kai son of Yazdgird I, listed under S¯s¯nid aa Khutr¯niya, 80 . a Khuzist¯n, 36, 117, 165, 217, 221–223, a 235–238, 242, 257, 262, 438, 491 khwar¯s¯n (east), listed under k¯st aa u Khw¯razm, 39, 86, 290, 318, 321, 347, a 360, 417, 419 khwarbar¯n (west), listed under k¯st a u Khwarezmia, see Khw¯razm a khw¯d¯dah, 429, 433, 434, 502 e o Kidarites, 76, 299 , see also Hephthalites, Huns Kird¯ 327–333, 340, 348, 389, 431 ır, , see also under inscriptions Kirm¯n, 39, 50, 209, 217, 222, 223, a 246, 257, 265, 367, 469, 503 , see also mint of ∼

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al-Kirm¯n¯ Juday b. Al¯ 426 a ı, ı, Komsh, see Q¯mis u Kopet D¯gh, 23, 417 a ∼ culture, 23 Koran, see Qur ¯n a Koshm, listed under Arsacid Kotit, lord of Amatunik‘, 133 K¯fa, 36, 165, 192, 218, 243, 272, 309 u K¯h-i K¯rin, 114, 295, 308, 374 u a K¯l¯, 252, 293, 308 ua Kurdist¯n, 237, 238, 333 a Kürendagh, 417 K¯sh¯n, 136, 137, 139, 297 u a k¯st, 39, 49, 95, 157, 503 u ∼-i ¯durb¯dag¯n, xi, 4, 6, 17, 39, 42, a a a 84, 95–97, 100–104, 116, 117, 125, 127, 129, 130, 133, 136, 151, 165, 172, 215, 216, 222, 249, 250, 252, 263, 280, 281, 289, 295, 303, 359, 366, 368–370, 378, 392, 393, 397, 405, 414, 418, 419, 424–426, 437, 438, 441, 442, 447, 448, 450, 457, 462, 503 ∼-i khwar¯s¯n, 4, 6, 17, 39, 42, 96, aa 97, 99, 115, 120, 122, 127, 130, 133, 136, 151, 165, 172, 188, 215, 216, 222, 249, 250, 262, 263, 274, 275, 277, 280, 281, 292, 295, 303, 359, 366, 368, 369, 378, 379, 392, 393, 397, 405, 414, 418, 419, 424–426, 437, 441, 442, 447, 448, 450, 457, 503 ∼-i khwarbar¯n, 40, 100, 106, 108, a 115, 117, 131, 188, 215, 216, 221, 290, 503 ∼-i n¯mr¯z, 39, 64, 95, 100, 120, e o 121, 150, 153, 156, 157, 173, 181, 215–217, 221, 407, 462, 503 ¯ Adhar Val¯sh’s ∼ to Yazdgird III, a 303 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ ∼ to Mušeł a u ın’s Mamikonean, 128, 129 Farrukz¯d’s ∼ to the Arabs, 256 a Kan¯r¯ng’s ∼s to the Arabs, aa 271–273 Kh¯lid’s ∼ to general Hormozd, a 191, 193 Kh¯lid’s ∼ to the kings of Persia, a 199, 200 Kh¯q¯n’s ∼ to P¯ uz, 383 a a ır¯ Khusrow I’s ∼ to his p¯dh¯sp¯n, 83 a u a Khusrow II’s ∼ to Farrukh¯n, 144, a 145, 149, 152 Khusrow II’s ∼ to Shahrvar¯z, 144, a 145, 147, 152 M¯h¯y’s ∼ to Yazdgird III, 260 a u Persian nobility’s ∼ to Sh¯p¯r a u Mihr¯n, 75 a Qub¯d’s ∼ to Sukhr¯, 79 a a Rustam’s ∼ to Farrukhz¯d, 156, a 228–230 Shahrvar¯z’s ∼ to Muthann¯, 203 a a Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s ∼ to Heraclius, ır¯ a 176 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d’s ∼ to Khusrow II, ır¯ a 154 Vist¯hm’s ∼s to Khusrow II, 135 a Yazdgird III’s ∼ to Farrukhz¯d, 262 a Yazdgird III’s ∼ to M¯h¯y, 265 a u Yazdgird III’s ∼ to the Kan¯r¯ng, aa 265, 266 M mace, see ox-headed mace al-Mad¯ in, see Ctesiphon a Madh¯r, see Battle of ∼ a M¯h Afr¯ a ıdhan, 240 M¯h D¯ ar, see Nih¯vand a ın¯ a M¯h Isfand, 158 a M¯h¯dharjushnas, 179–182, 192–194, a a 211, 212, 471 ¯ , variants: Mih Adhar Jushnas; Jushnasm¯h; Mihr Has¯ a . ıs † in 630 CE, 181, 182, 212 M¯hawayh, see M¯h¯y a a u Mahb¯dh¯n, 201, 468 u a

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Mahd¯ listed under Caliph ı, M¯hfarvard¯ 426–428, 430 a ın, mahist¯n, 25, 503 a Mahoe, see M¯h¯y a u mahr, see marriage, dowry Mahraspand, 334, 336, 345 M¯h¯y, 259–263, 265, 266, 277, 292, a u 469 M¯hy¯y, 183 a a Makr¯n, 336 a Mamak, listed under Mamikonean Mamikonean Dawit‘, 157, 232 Mamak, 133 Mušeł, 127, 128, 154, 399 Mušeł, son of Dawit‘, 157, 232, 233, 469 † in 635 CE, 157, 233 Vahan, 71–75, 391 Mamikoneans, 128, 129 Man¯dhir, 237 a mang, 330, 431, 432, 503 M¯n¯ 325, 329–332, 345, 366, 428 a ı, † around 276 CE, 331, 332 Manicheans, 289, 328–334, 338, 341, 344, 345, 366, 419 Mansur, listed under Caliph .¯ Manu, 325 Man¯chihr, 77, 342, 354, 375–378, 413, u 414, 441, 444, 446, 447 Maqr, see Battle of ∼ Mar Ammo, 331 Mard¯nsh¯h a a p¯dh¯sp¯n of N¯ uz, listed under a u a ımr¯ ∗ S¯ ren u general, 212, 213 † in 631 CE, 212, 213 ∼ Masmugh¯n, listed under K¯rin a a . P¯rs¯ leader, probably Bahman a ıg J¯dh¯yih, 196–198, 202, 217, 219, a u 241, 247, 248, 253 † around 642 CE, 213, 248 Margiana, see Marv Marj al-R¯hit, 203 a . Marmara, sea of, 141 marriage close-kin ∼, see khw¯d¯dah e o dowry (mahr), 429 Marv, 50, 139, 238, 246, 257, 259–261, 265, 272, 297, 360, 414, 417, 418, 426, 435, 445, 450 Marv al-R¯d, 39, 259, 426 u Marwanids, 239 Maryam, queen, 174, 236 marzb¯n, 43, 48, 70, 77, 103, 120, 125, a 130, 136, 138, 153, 174, 190, 198, 231, 251, 259, 261, 263, 265, 271, 274, 309, 503 Mashtots‘, 44, 386 Masqalah b. Hubayrah al-Shayb¯n¯ a ı, . 308, 309 † around 676 CE, 309 Maurice, see Emperor Maurice Mays¯n, 236 a maz¯lim, 58, 503 .a M¯zandar¯n, 72, 230, 369 a a , see also Tabarist¯n a . Mazdak, 40, 114, 289, 326, 342, 344, 345, 428, 434, 439 Zar¯dusht ∼ the Older, 344, 345 a Mazdakites, 81, 82, 86, 87, 93, 97, 289, 334, 336, 338–341, 344–346, 357, 377, 398, 429, 434, 507 rebellion of the ∼, 76, 78, 82, 83, 85–88, 93, 94, 99, 101, 116, 344, 346, 350, 379, 384 M¯z¯ ar, 6, 287, 380, 437, 452, 458 a ıy¯ Mebodes, 288 Mecca, 1, 167, 465 Media, 6, 20, 36, 40, 97, 130, 149, 152, 241, 321, 322, 347, 351, 360, 362, 438 Medina, 1, 167, 210, 465 mehean, see mithrad¯na, d¯r-i Mihr a a Mehekan, see Mihrag¯n a m¯n¯g, 330, 339, 346, 503 e o mercantile economy, see trade Mermeroes, listed under Mihr¯n a isbahbadh al-bil¯d, a Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ a u a ı . Mihr¯n a Mesene, 347 Mesopotamia, 19, 37–39, 41, 50, 52, 140, 141, 166, 333, 347, 418 , see also Iraq

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religion of ∼, 339, 387 Mher, see Mihr Mihr (mountain), 364 Mihr (village), 364 mihr duruj¯ 366, 367, 380, 391, 400, ı, 407 , see also Mithra Mihr Has¯ M¯h¯dharjushnas a a . ıs, Mihr Hormozd, listed under ∗ S¯ ren u Mihr Narseh, listed under S¯ ren u Mihr worship, 5, 6, 13, 17, 87, 327, 350–354, 357–360, 366, 368, 369, 371, 373, 377–379, 381, 384, 392, 393, 397, 399, 400, 402, 405, 433, 434, 441, 446, 451, 457–459 ∼ and Roman Mithraism, see Roman Mithraism ∼ and banquet scene, 389 ∼ and hunting scene, 388 ∼ and the Circle of Justice, see Circle of Justice ∼ in Armenia, 13, 359, 386–392, 397 ∼ in Ferdows¯ 377, 399 ı, P¯ ad¯ and ∼, 377 ıshd¯ ıs the cow in ∼, 364, 374, 375, 398, 447 Mihr, son of Sukhr¯, listed under a K¯rin a Mihrak-i N¯shz¯d¯n, 46, 367 u a a Mihr¯n a ∼ al-Hamad¯n¯ listed under Mihr¯n a ı, a ∼-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯ listed under a a ı, Mihr¯n a general of P¯ uz, listed under ır¯ Mihr¯n a sister of Khusrow II, listed under S¯s¯nid aa son of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ listed a u ın, under Mihr¯n a Mihr¯n a Asht¯d (dib¯ 50 a ır), Asht¯t, 71–73, 75 a Bahr¯m Gushn¯sp, 125 a a Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ (ruled 590–591), a u ın, 6, 8, 29, 34, 52, 68, 80, 81, 95, 96, 103, 104, 109, 110, 112, 113, 118, 119, 121–135, 138, 154, 156, 157, 181, 182, 188, 201, 206, 249, 250, 264, 274, 290, 296, 298, 348, 361, 365, 376–379, 392, 397–414, 426, 437, 441, 442, 444–447, 452, 458, 459, 461, 463, 468 † in 591 CE, 96, 129, 412 Far¯ ıburz, 102, 117 G¯rg¯n, 101–104, 107, 117, 125, o o 378, 405, 461, 470 , variants: Gurg¯n M¯ ad; e ıl¯ G¯rg¯n; G¯r-g¯n (on seals); o e o o Glon; Gołon Mihrewandak Gorduyih, 81 ¯ Izad Gushnasp, 71–75 ¯ Izadgushasp, 102, 117, 119–122 † around 580–585 CE, 119 supporter of Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ a u ın, 119 Mihr¯n, general of P¯ uz, 73–75, 391 a ır¯ Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ 201, 206 a a u ın, Mihr¯n-i Bahr¯m-i R¯z¯ 232, 235, a a a ı, 245, 469 † around 637 CE, 235 Mihr¯n-i Hamad¯n¯ 219, 227, 468 a a ı, † around 631 CE, 219 Mihr¯nsit¯d, 103, 104, 117, 124 a a † around 592 CE, 124 Mihrbund¯dh, 219 a Mihrf¯ uz, 72, 73 ır¯ Mirranes, 102 Nast¯h, 104, 117, 124 u P¯ an Gushnasp, 48 ır¯ Rah¯m, 68, 71, 300, 379 a S¯d-h¯sh, 101, 102, 104, 116, 117, e o 461 , variants: Sh¯d¯sh e o S¯ avakhsh-i Mihr¯n-i Ch¯b¯ 206, ıy¯ a u ın, 249–252, 263, 265, 304, 469 ∗ , S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ ıy¯ a ı S¯ avakhsh-i R¯z¯ 206, 210, 250 ıy¯ a ı, ∗ , S¯ avakhsh-i Mihr¯n-i ıy¯ a Ch¯b¯ u ın † in 631 CE, 206, 210 Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ 79–81, 101, 103, 104, a u a ı, 111, 268, 269, 379 Sh¯p¯r, 74, 75 a u

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Sh¯p¯r-i Shahrvar¯z, (ruled ∗ 631), a u a 202, 204, 205, 207, 210, 471 † in 631 CE, 210 Shahr¯n, 48 e Shahr¯ az, 279 ır¯ ∗ Shahrvar¯z J¯dh¯yih, 197, 247, 469 a a u † in 642 CE, 247 Shahrvar¯z, (ruled 630), 101, 102, a 110, 137, 141–153, 155–157, 159, 169, 173, 174, 176–185, 192, 196–205, 207, 209–212, 219, 247, 284, 306, 390, 461, 467, 468, 470, 471 , variants: Gor¯z; P¯ a ırag-i Shahrwar¯z (on seals); Kho˙eam a r † in 630 CE, 182–184, 203, 207, 209 Shahrvar¯z, commander of the a cavalry, 219, 468 † around 631 CE, 219 Shahrvar¯z, ruler of al-B¯b, 231, a a 254, 279, 280, 306, 469 Mihr¯ns, xi, 3, 6, 8, 42, 44, 48–51, 57, a 68, 70–76, 78, 80, 81, 83, 95, 96, 99–104, 107, 110, 112, 113, 115–120, 122, 124, 125, 127, 129–131, 135, 137, 142, 149–151, 153, 157, 159, 173, 177, 180–183, 189, 196, 197, 201, 202, 204–206, 210, 211, 219, 231, 232, 247, 249–254, 263–265, 268, 269, 275, 279, 281, 291, 294–298, 300, 304–306, 365, 376–379, 381, 384, 386, 390–392, 397, 398, 402, 404, 405, 409, 410, 412, 424, 425, 438, 441, 444, 445, 447, 448, 458, 460, 461, 463, 468, 470, 527 Mihr¯nsit¯d, listed under Mihr¯n a a a Mihrbund¯dh, listed under Mihr¯n a a Mihrd¯d, see Mithradates a Mihrewandak, 103, 378, 399, 400, 402, 404, 447, 458 Bahr¯m-i Ch¯b¯ ∼, see Bahr¯m-i a u ın a Ch¯b¯ Mihr¯n u ın a Gołon ∼, see G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n o o a Mihrig¯n, 354, 371–373, 375, 388, 503 a Mihrij¯n, see Mihrig¯n a a Mihrij¯n (village), 372 a Mihrij¯n Qadhaq, 236, 237, 240 a ˇnord, 74, 392 mij Mil¯d, a Mithradates I Arsacid mint ∼ WYHC, 209, 222 ¯ ∼ of Amul, 209 ∼ of Ardash¯ Khurrah, 217 ır ∼ of Gurg¯n, 209 a ∼ of Her¯t, 209 a ∼ of Hormozd Ardash¯ 217 ır, ∼ of Kirm¯n, 209, 217, 222, 223 a ∼ of N¯ ap¯r, 209 ısh¯ u ∼ of Nih¯vand, 205 a ∼ of Qum, 209 ∼ of Rayy, 209 ∼ of S¯ an, 217, 221, 222 ıst¯ ∼ of Stakhr, 205, 217 ∼ of Visp-shad-Husrav, 209, 222 Mirian III Chosroid, see also Arsacids, Georgian, 44 Mihr¯nid descent of ∼, 44 a M¯ uy, 230 ır¯ M¯ ıshkhury¯r, father of Man¯chihr, a u 376, 447 Mithra, 68, 147, 326, 327, 331, 335, 351–354, 356–360, 364, 366, 367, 369–372, 375, 377, 386–390, 393, 398, 399, 401, 402, 404, 408–412, 432, 442, 499, 502, 503, 505, 506 , see also Mihr worship; mij ˇnord , variants: Mitra; Mihr; Mher ∼ as Apollo, 360 ∼ as judge, 351–357, 366, 368, 373, 383, 391, 400, 404, 500, 505 ∼ as the sun, 327, 354, 357, 372, 376, 378, 383, 384, 388–390, 393, 432 ∼ic mysteries, see Roman Mithraism eschatological role of ∼, 353, 371, 379, 405, 407, 411, 432 mace of ∼, see ox-headed mace three functions of ∼, 334, 352–356, 364, 367, 371, 373, 376, 380, 388, 400, 411, 433 mithrad¯na, 388 a , see also mithraeum

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Mithradates, listed under Arsacid mithraeum, 375, 388, 503, 506 , see also mithrad¯na, d¯r-i Mihr a a ∼ at Dura Europos, 389 Mithras, 374, 375, 402, 503, 506 , see also Roman Mithraism m¯ anch¯ see Mithra, as judge ıy¯ ıgh, m¯bad, 33, 46, 61, 62, 66, 68, 90, 91, o 114, 120, 288, 289, 303, 327, 331, 344, 365, 368, 375, 378, 403, 404, 412, 427, 431, 436, 458, 501, 503, 504 m¯badh¯n ∼, 46, 47, 61, 90, 91, 344, o a 365, 503 Mu ¯wiya, listed under Caliph a mufattish, 88, 89 Mugh¯ ırah b. Shu bah, 228, 247 Muhammad (Prophet), 4, 6, 162, 167, . 193, 226, 255, 271, 282–285, 434, 465, 501, 505 † in 632 CE, 4, 162, 166, 168, 170, 191, 282–284 as Seal of the Prophets, 434 Mundhir, king of H¯ 69 . ıra, al-Muqanna , 425 Muqarrin, listed under Nu aym; Nu m¯n; Suwayd a Murgh¯b, 23 a ∼ culture, 23 Musaylimah, 190, 191 Musheł, listed under Mamikonean Muslimiya, 425 Mut ah, see Battle of ∼ M¯t¯ (Daylam), 248, 469 ua Mu tasim, listed under Caliph . Muthann¯ b. H¯ritha, 166, 178, 192, a .a 202, 203, 207, 210, 211, 218–220, 227, 468 Mystacon, Magister Militum per Armeniam, 128 N Nabateans, 36 Nabu, 327 n¯f, see agnatic a Nahr al-Mar ¯t, 192 a Nahr T¯ a, 237 ır¯ Nakh¯rj¯n, see naxarar a a Nam¯riq, see Battle of ∼ a Namazga VI culture, 23 N¯md¯r Jushnas, 180, 181, 196 a a Namir, 169, 201, 202 N¯na, 327 a Nan¯, 387 e Narisanka, Andragoras Narseh, listed under S¯s¯nid aa Nars¯ ı brother of M¯h¯dharjushnas, 192, a a 211–213, 468, 471 ¯ son of J¯m¯sp, listed under Al-i a a J¯m¯sp a a Nasr b. Sayy¯r, 426 a . Nu m¯n b. Afgham Nasr¯ 276 a . ı, Nast¯h, listed under Mihr¯n u a Nasu (dev), 322 naxarar, 43, 136, 153, 154, 243, 387, 391, 504 , variants: naxvadar; Nakh¯rj¯n; Tukh¯r a a a naxvadar, see naxarar n¯mr¯z (south), listed under k¯st e o u Nero, see Emperor Nero Nestorians, 419 N¯w-Sh¯buhr, see N¯ ap¯r e a ısh¯ u N¯w Khusrow, see F¯ uz¯n e ır¯ a Nicanor, 389 Nih¯vand, 244 a , see also Battle of ∼ , see also mint of ∼ K¯r¯ a ınid domains of ∼, 49, 115, 243 Nikb¯ ben Massoud (historian), 187 ı n¯ uz (south), listed under k¯st ımr¯ u Nis¯, 22, 266, 276, 305, 318, 359, 389, a 417, 418 N¯ ap¯r, xi, 39, 65, 70, 71, 113, 139, ısh¯ u 209, 270–274, 276, 277, 304, 305, 308, 318, 364, 372, 417, 426, 427, 435, 437, 438, 441, 442, 445, 447–450, 463, 469 , see also mint of ∼ N¯ ızak Tarkh¯n, 260 a Nowbah¯r, 175 a Nowr¯z, 363, 371, 378, 402, 503–505 u Nu aym b. Muqarrin, 248, 250–253, 304, 469

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Nubia, 143 Nu m¯n b. Muqarrin, 241, 469 a O oath breaking, see mihr duruj¯ ı Oman, 227 Ormi, see Urumiya Ormozd, see Ah¯r¯ Mazd¯ ua a Orodes, listed under Arsacid Osrhoene, 177 ¯ a a ost¯nd¯r, 247, 504 ox-headed mace, 371, 372, 374, 375 , variants: gorz-i g¯vsar; gurz; mace a of Mithra Oxus, 126, 139, 229, 240, 276, 383, 406 P Padhashkhw¯rgar, 40, 47, 288, 289, a 294, 295, 300, 370, 408–411, 440–443, 445, 446, 459 , see also Tabarist¯n a . padhghusp¯n, see p¯dh¯sp¯n a a u a p¯dh¯sp¯n, 83, 143, 157, 158, 181, 197, a u a 247, 248, 274, 307, 504 Pahlav, see Parthians Panjikant, 419 Parm¯dih, 400 u Parnabazids, see Arsacids, Georgian Parni, 19, 20, 23, 25, 504 P¯rs¯ passim a ıg, Parsis, 327, 504 Partav (in Arr¯n), see Barda a a Parthava, 20, 42, 504 Parthian and Pahlaw aspet, see Asparapet Ispahbudh¯n a Parthians, passim Pash¯tan, 409, 412 u Patizhahar, see Padhashkhw¯rgar a Paykand, 406 Pekeriç, see Bagayarich P¯r¯z¯p¯t, see Barda a eo a a Persepolis, 359 Pers¯ 22, 27, 36, 49, 53, 56, 67, 98, ıs, 120, 123, 125, 130, 156, 215, 322, 333, 335, 358, 360–362, 402 Petra, 103 peym¯n (contract), see Mithra a Phabrizius, see Far¯ ıburz Mihr¯n a Philip, see Emperor Philip Phocas, see Emperor Phocas Phraat, listed under Arsacid Phraataces, Phraat V Arsacid Phthasouarsan, Kay¯s under u S¯s¯nid aa P¯ ırag-i Shahrwar¯z, see Shahrvar¯z a a Mihr¯n a P¯ uz ır¯ , listed under S¯s¯nid aa ∼ Khusrow, see also F¯ uz¯n ır¯ a ∼ Khusrow, general † around 631 CE, 175 brother of Khusrow I, listed under S¯s¯nid aa grandson of J¯m¯sp, listed under a a ¯ Al-i J¯m¯sp a a P¯ ad¯ 33, 342, 370, 375, 377, 378, ıshd¯ ı, 385 Pliny (historian), 37 Plutarch (historian), 64 p¯ry¯tk¯sh¯ 337 o o e ıh, Prince of the Medes, Farrukh Hormozd Ispahbudh¯n a Pseudo-Callisthenes (historian), 358 Pumbadita, 337 P¯r¯n, see B¯r¯ndukht S¯s¯nid ua ua aa Pusai, 334 P¯shang, 39 u Q Q¯disiya, see Battle of ∼ a Qajars, 395 qan¯t, 274, 502, 504 a Qa q¯ b. Amr, 231, 233–235, 248 a Q¯rin, listed under K¯rin a a Q¯rin K¯h, see K¯h-i K¯rin a u u a Qatar¯ b. al-Fuj¯ ah, 309, 310 ı a . † circa 685–695 CE, 310 Qazv¯ 251 ın, Qazv¯ ı, 364 ın¯ qibla, 378, 433, 439, 445, 447, 459, 505 Qih¯, 251 a quadripartition, see reforms of Khusrow I S¯s¯nid aa quarter, see k¯st u Qub¯d a , listed under S¯s¯nid aa

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∼ II, Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d ır¯ a son of J¯m¯sp, listed under S¯s¯nid a a aa son of M¯h¯dharjushnas, 191–194, a a 468, 471 † around 630 CE, 194 Q¯ch¯n, 19, 293 u a Q¯hist¯n, 113, 246, 307, 427 u a Quintus Curtis (historian), 358 Q¯lah, see K¯l¯ u ua Qum, 252, 438 Q¯mis, 39, 90, 112, 137, 139, 250, 251, u 253, 255, 296, 315, 417, 442, 447, 460, 469 Qur ¯n, 501, 502, 505 a Qutaybah b. Muslim al-B¯hil¯ 223, a ı, 310, 311, 314 † around 714 CE, 310, 311 Ibn Qutaybah, 178 R R¯dih K¯h, 266 a u R¯dihk¯n, 266 a a Rah¯m, listed under K¯rin; Mihr¯n a a a ra¯ 88, 447 ıs, R¯m P¯ uz, 381, 386, 406 a ır¯ R¯m Hurmurz, 236, 237, 469, 514 a , see also Battle of ∼ Rashnu, 353, 357, 389, 401, 409, 411, 412, 432, 505 raϑa¯štar, see art¯sht¯r¯n e e aa rath¯sht¯r¯n s¯l¯r, 61, 63, 505 a a a aa ratu, see dastwar Rayy, 47, 49, 50, 68, 80, 90, 112, 124, 125, 127, 130, 133–135, 139, 189, 206, 209, 222, 236, 244, 246, 248–253, 256, 258, 259, 261, 263–265, 275, 277, 292, 293, 296, 297, 304, 305, 310, 315, 316, 360, 361, 376, 379, 381, 386, 404, 406, 409, 438–442, 444, 445, 447, 460, 469 , see also mint of ∼ ˙ , variants: Razz; Reyy; Rhaga ∼ and the Mihr¯ns, 68, 80, 124, 125, a 127, 189, 206, 249, 264, 265, 296, 304, 305, 376, 409, 438, 441, 460 Rev, Iberian king, see also Arsacids, Georgian, 44 Rewan, 71 Rhaga, see Rayy ¯ Rib¯ b. Amir, 227 ı ridda wars, 4, 162, 166, 190, 193, 237, 282, 284, 505 Rig Veda, 352 R¯ ıwand, 364 Riz¯m b. S¯biq, 425 a a Roman Mithraism, 6, 24, 350, 358, 359, 374, 375, 388, 389, 402, 459, 503, 506 Romap¯da, 355 a Rome, see also Byzantium, 20–22, 24 ˙ Rostam, Rostom, see Rustam Rowshan P¯ uz, 381, 386 ır¯ R¯y¯n, see R¯y¯n o a u a R¯db¯r, 229, 230 u a , see also Oxus Rumiy¯z¯n, 143 u a , Shahrvar¯z Mihr¯n a a R¯s, 280 u Rustaham, listed under S¯ ren u Rustam, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a ∼ J¯dh¯yih, listed under j¯dh¯yih a u a u mythical ∼, 76, 118, 375, 462 R¯y¯n, 40, 135, 136, 307, 376 u a R¯zbih, 201, 468 u † around 630 CE, 201 S S¯b¯t, 219, 231 a a. Sabziv¯r, 364 a ¯ Sa d b. As, 272, 293 . Sadih, 363, 378, 402, 505 Sahak I the Great, 43, 60 S¯renid descent of ∼, 60 u Saint Acindynus, 387 Saint George the Soldier, 388 Saint Gregory the Illuminator, 44, 387, 390 S¯renid descent of ∼, 44, 131 u Saint Sergius, 337 S¯lih-i Mikn¯q, 309 a .a . Salim, listed under Kan¯rang¯ an a ıy¯ Saljuqs, 422 S¯m Nar¯ an, 354 a ım¯ Samak, 378 Samak-i Ayy¯r, 22 a

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Samanids, 394, 454, 463 sanad, see isn¯d a Sandaramet, see Spandarmad, 387 Saoshyant, see S¯shyant o ˘ Sapuh Mihr¯n, see Sh¯p¯r Mihr¯n a a u a Saqasayn, 314 Sarakhs, 260, 417, 418 S¯r¯ 261, 307, 308, 311, 317 a ı, ¯ S¯r¯yih, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp au a a Sasanian ∼ historiography, 34–36 ∼ propaganda, 9, 10, 22, 33–35, 459 ∼ kings, listed under S¯s¯nid aa S¯s¯nid aa ¯ Adhar Narseh, son of Hormozd II, 56 † in 309 CE, 56 ¯ Adur An¯h¯ daughter of Sh¯p¯r I, a ıd, a u 331 Ardash¯ I, (ruled 224–241), 8, 38, ır 42, 45–47, 49–51, 56, 64, 83, 85–87, 224, 324, 327, 337, 343, 361, 366, 367, 378, 404 Ardash¯ II, (ruled 379–383), 42, 57, ır 58, 335, 368 † in 383 CE, 57 Ardash¯ III, (ruled 628–630), 150, ır 151, 169, 173, 176, 178–181, 183, 188, 189, 191–196, 198–200, 209, 211, 212, 283, 468, 471 , variants: Ardash¯ b. Sh¯ a; ır ır¯ Ardash¯ Sh¯ uyih ır ır¯ † in 630 CE, 169, 181, 183, 188, 196, 198, 199, 209 Azarm¯ ıdukht, (ruled 630–631), 169, 183, 185–187, 189, 190, 203–211, 217, 291, 471 † in 631 CE, 185–187, 207–210, 217 B¯bak, 333, 368, 385 a B¯r¯ndukht, (ruled 630–632), 11, ua 151, 169, 170, 175, 178, 183–187, 189, 190, 198–200, 203–205, 207–214, 217, 218, 220, 222, 242, 283, 468, 471 , variants: Bor; Tur¯n Dukht; a Dukht-i Zab¯n; P¯r¯n a ua † in 632 CE, 185, 218, 220 Bahr¯m I, (ruled 273–276), 331–334 a † in 276 CE, 331 Bahr¯m II, (ruled 276–293), 21, 327, a 332–334, 348 † in 293 CE, 327 Bahr¯m III, (ruled 293), 332 a † in 293 CE, 332 Bahr¯m IV, (ruled 388–399), 58 a † in 399 CE, 58 Bahr¯m V G¯r, (ruled 420–438), 34, a u 43, 59–62, 64, 67–70, 109, 113, 278, 345, 348, 363, 383 Bil¯sh, (ruled 484–488), 75–78, 267, a 379, 382–384, 471 H¯shang, 288 u Hormozd Ardash¯ 21 ır, Hormozd I, (ruled 272–273), 46, 47, 331, 333, 334 Hormozd II, (ruled 302–309), 56, 334 † in 309 CE, 56 Hormozd III, (ruled 457–459), 71, 300, 381, 382, 471 † in 459 CE, 71, 381 Hormozd IV, (ruled 579–590), 63, 91, 92, 94–97, 99–102, 104–106, 108, 111–113, 118–124, 126, 127, 129, 131, 132, 155, 182, 192, 250, 274, 289, 296, 326, 337, 361, 397, 399, 400, 404, 444, 458, 467, 471 ∼’s killing of the nobles, 63, 106, 108, 112, 114, 118–123, 127, 131, 291 † in 590 CE, 96, 123, 127, 132, 155, 409, 413, 444 Byzantine wars of ∼, 123, 146 Hormozd, son of Yazdgird II, 70 J¯m¯sp, brother of Khusrow I, 110, a a 111, 268, 471 † around 532 CE, 111 J¯m¯sp, brother of Qub¯d, (ruled a a a 497–499) ¯ , listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a Kay¯s, 110, 288, 289, 291, 292, u 294–296, 346, 463, 471

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, variants: Caoses; Kaus; Phthasouarsan † around 531 CE, 289, 295 Khusrow I Nowsh¯ an, (ruled ırv¯ 531–579), xi, 7, 8, 34, 35, 39, 40, 44, 49, 52, 63, 64, 82–84, 86–97, 99–105, 107–122, 124–126, 128, 129, 131, 161, 192, 209, 216, 231, 243, 250, 252, 268, 269, 274, 277, 288–290, 294–296, 336, 345, 346, 349, 361, 365, 379, 380, 385, 402, 447, 456, 471, 505 ∼’s war against the Turks, 380 absolutist power of ∼, 52, 58, 84, 85, 91, 97, 99, 101 armies of ∼, 92, 101, 102, 117 reforms of ∼, 8, 11, 69, 78, 80, 83, 85, 86, 88, 89, 91–99, 101, 104, 107, 110, 115, 117, 118, 121, 123, 128, 182, 188, 278, 295, 296, 384, 500, 503, 505 religious policies of ∼, 336, 337, 340, 345, 348, 349, 361, 365 Khusrow II Parv¯ (ruled 591–628), ız, 3, 8, 34, 39, 40, 59, 63, 68, 94–97, 99–102, 104, 106, 108–110, 112, 122, 125, 127–138, 140–150, 152–159, 173–177, 179, 181, 184, 186, 187, 189, 193, 197, 200, 205, 212, 213, 229, 239, 250, 274, 275, 284, 289–291, 294, 297, 301, 337, 340, 397, 400–404, 407, 410, 412, 444, 456, 458, 460, 462, 471 ∼’s war against the Turks, 139 † in 628 CE, 4, 8, 150, 155, 156, 158, 172–174, 262, 298, 337 armies of ∼, 136, 142, 148, 154 Byzantine wars of ∼, 1, 110, 140–145, 147, 153, 297 deposition of ∼, 140, 142, 147, 148, 151–159, 161, 171, 173, 175, 177, 180, 181, 189, 213, 232, 269, 298, 399 Khusrow III, 155 Khusrow, prince, 67, 69, 109 Mihr¯n, sister of Khusrow II, wife a of Shahrvar¯z, 205, 471 a Narseh, (ruled 293–302), 63, 321, 331, 333 P¯ uz, (ruled 459–484), 34, 65, ır¯ 70–77, 86, 92, 287, 298, 300, 335, 348, 355, 363, 379–386, 391, 392, 399, 406, 458, 460 , variants: Peroz; F¯ uz ır¯ † in 484 CE, 75–77, 298 Hephthalite wars of ∼, 74–77, 299, 380–384 Qub¯d, (ruled 488–497, 499–531), a 39, 40, 52, 58, 64, 73, 75–83, 87, 92, 96, 101, 103, 104, 106, 107, 110, 111, 113, 114, 135, 212, 267–269, 287–289, 294, 295, 299–301, 326, 336, 340, 344, 345, 348, 349, 377, 379, 384, 385, 456, 471 , variants: Cabades; Kavad; Kouades † in 531 CE, 113, 288, 301, 385 Qub¯d, son of J¯m¯sp, 111, 268 a a a S¯s¯n, 5, 8, 42, 125, 127, 130, 157, aa 173, 182, 249, 331, 368, 385, 439, 445, 446, 452 Sh¯p¯r I, (ruled 241–272), 8, 21, 38, a u 46–48, 50, 56, 83, 325, 331, 332, 340, 348, 400, 505 Sh¯p¯r II, (ruled 309–379), 52, a u 56–58, 83, 92, 128, 326, 334, 335, 340, 345, 347–349, 368 † in 379 CE, 58 Sh¯p¯r III, (ruled 383–388), 57, 58, a u 349, 368 Sh¯p¯r, son of Kay¯s, 289, 471 a u u † circa 579–590 CE, 289 Sh¯p¯r, son of Yazdgird I, 43, 68 a u † in 420 CE, 43, 68 Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, (ruled 628), 148, ır¯ a 153, 154, 156–158, 169, 173–179, 189–193, 200, 209, 236, 269, 283, 284, 291, 298, 460, 465, 471 , variants: Sh¯ a b. Kisr¯; Qub¯d ır¯ a a II † in 628 CE, 177, 178, 191, 209 Shahr¯ ar, brother of Sh¯ uyih ıy¯ ır¯ Qub¯d, 471 a

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I NDEX
† in 628 CE, 175 Yazdgird I, (ruled 399–420), 58–62, 64–69, 109, 110, 266, 325, 335, 340, 347, 348, 363 ∼ the Sinner, 59, 66, 67, 267, 335 † in 420 CE, 43, 66, 68, 69, 109, 267, 389 Yazdgird II, (ruled 438–457), 34, 59–62, 64, 70, 71, 300, 340, 348, 349, 375, 382, 385 † in 457 CE, 71, 300 Yazdgird III, (ruled 632–651), 4, 9, 36, 161, 169–172, 185, 191, 207–209, 215, 219–225, 229, 231, 235, 236, 238–240, 242, 244–246, 250, 257–266, 269–271, 276, 277, 283, 291–294, 302, 303, 313, 377, 462, 464, 469, 471 † in 651 CE, 2, 220, 257, 259, 263, 272, 292, 293 ﬂight of ∼, 236, 241, 244–246, 253, 257–260, 262, 263, 265, 270, 287, 292, 298, 302, 304 Zar¯ brother of Bil¯sh, 76 ır, a S¯vih Sh¯h, 399, 400, 402 a a Saw¯d, 108, 109, 131, 178, 194, 195, a 199, 203, 207, 211, 214, 216, 220, 224, 225, 227, 231, 232, 503 , see also k¯st-i khwar¯s¯n u aa sp¯hbed of ∼, 108, 109, 131 a Sayf b. Umar, 15, 16, 162, 165–172, 189–216, 218–220, 224, 225, 227–230, 232–234, 236, 238, 240–242, 247–249, 251, 254, 258, 263, 278, 281–283, 304, 465 † around 796 CE, 165 seals ∼ of Chihr-Burz¯n, 99, 121, 122, e 461, 470 , S¯ ah-i Burz¯ K¯rin ım¯ ın a ∼ of D¯d-Burz-Mihr, 99, 100, 115, a 120, 121, 216, 296, 302, 364, 379, 400, 470 , D¯dmihr K¯rin a a ∼ of G¯r-g¯n, 99–104, 107, 117, o o 461, 470 , G¯rg¯n Mihr¯n o o a ∼ of P¯ ırag-i Shahrwar¯z, 99–102, a 110, 142, 150, 152, 153, 182, 470 , Shahrvar¯z Mihr¯n a a ∼ of S¯d-h¯sh, 99–102, 104, 107, e o 116, 117, 461, 470 , S¯d-h¯sh Mihr¯n e o a ∼ of W¯h-Sh¯buhr, 99–101, 156, e a 216, 461, 470 ∼ of Wahr¯m Adurm¯h, 99, 101, a ¯ a 120–122, 124, 470 , Bahr¯m-i M¯h Adhar a a ¯ ∼ of Wistakhm, 63, 99, 104, 107–110, 470 , V¯ ahm Ispahbudh¯n ıst¯ a S¯d-h¯sh, listed under Mihr¯n e o a Sef¯ ıdanj, 414 Seleucia, 20, 389 Seleucids, 19, 20, 37, 321, 360, 361 Seleucus, 19, 389 Sh¯hansh¯h, 48, 56, 182, 463, 505 a a Sh¯h¯ 141, 143, 146, 151 a ın, shahrab, 38, 49, 238, 505 Shahr¯m, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a a Shahr¯m P¯ uz, 381 a ır¯ Shahrapan Bandakan, 139 shahrd¯r¯n, 48, 55, 505 aa shahr¯ 238, 274, 505 ıg, Shahr¯ az, listed under Mihr¯n ır¯ a Shahr¯ ar, listed under Kan¯rang¯ an ıy¯ a ıy¯ Shahrkhw¯st¯n, maternal cousin of a a Khursh¯ Sh¯h, 314, 471 ıd a Sh¯hr¯d, 364 a u Shahrvar¯z a , listed under Mihr¯n a ∼ J¯dh¯yih, listed under ∗ Mihr¯n a u a ruler of al-B¯b, listed under Mihr¯n a a Shal¯b, 373 a Shamt¯, 175 .a Sh¯p¯r a u , listed under Mihr¯n a ∼ I, II, III, listed under S¯s¯nid aa ∼ Kharr¯d, a Asparapet Ispahbudh¯n a son of Yazdgird I, listed under S¯s¯nid aa Sh¯p¯r R¯z¯ listed under Mihr¯n a u a ı, a Sh¯d¯sh, see S¯d-h¯sh Mihr¯n e o e o a

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PDF.Tarikhema.ir (Historical e-Books)
I NDEX
Shem¯ an, 266 ır¯ , variants: Sham¯ an ıl¯ Sh¯ az, 79, 81 ır¯ Sh¯ ın, wife of Khusrow II, 174, 471 ır¯ Sh¯ uyih Qub¯d, listed under S¯s¯nid ır¯ a aa Sh¯ ad, 200, 201, 468 ırz¯ Sh¯ 333 ız, ¯ Shu ubiya, 230, 457, 460 Sibylline Oracles, 34 S¯ ah-i Burz¯ listed under K¯rin ım¯ ın, a Simn¯n, 310 a S¯ awand, 427 ır¯ S¯ aniya, see Bih¯far¯ followers ıs¯ a ıd, S¯ an, 39, 49, 50, 64, 77, 130, 150, ıst¯ 155–159, 177, 215, 217, 221, 222, 246, 257, 322, 364, 454, 461, 463, 469, 503 , see also mint of ∼ Siunik‘, 349 Siwni Grigor, 157, 232, 233, 469 † in 635 CE, 157, 233 Step‘anos, 133 S¯ ah, 238–240, 245, 469 ıy¯ Siyahgird, 382 S¯ avakhsh ıy¯ ∼-i Mihr¯n-i Ch¯b¯ listed under a u ın, Mihr¯n a ∼-i R¯z¯ listed under Mihr¯n a ı, a Slav, 299, 301 slaves, 38, 63, 90 Smbat, listed under Bagratuni Smbat (Armenian general), 300 Sogdians, 48, 318, 321, 328, 347, 366, 419, 437 Sor¯sh, 353, 371, 401, 402, 409, 411, u 432, 459, 500, 505 S¯shyant, 412, 505, 506 o Spah¯n, see Isfah¯n a . a sp¯hbed, xi, 61, 94, 95, 98–110, 112, a 114–117, 120–123, 125, 128, 129, 131, 132, 138, 142, 143, 150, 151, 153, 155–157, 173, 180, 181, 185, 186, 196, 205, 216, 250, 252, 254, 256, 259, 260, 262, 263, 272, 274–277, 290, 295–298, 302, 305, 314–316, 376, 379, 400, 405, 424, 447, 448, 450, 461, 462, 470, 501–506 , see also ispahbud Spandarmad, 49, 387, 499 Spand¯ adh, see Isfand¯ ars ıy¯ ıy¯ sparapet, see also Asparapet Ispahbudh¯n a Mamikonean ∼, 105, 128 Sraoša, see Sor¯sh u Stakhr, 239, 245, 290, 291, 327, 331–334, 385, 469 , see also mint of ∼ , variants: Istakhr; Staxr .. Strabo (historian), 25 st¯r¯ see marriage, substitute u ıh, Sufy¯n b. Abras, 310 a . ¯ Suhr¯b, listed under Al-i B¯vand a a Sukhr¯, listed under K¯rin a a Sul, 253–255, 304, 312, 469 .¯ Sulaym¯n b. Abdalmalik, listed under a Caliph sun worship, see Mithra as the sun Sunb¯d, listed under ∗ K¯rin a a S¯q al-Ahw¯z, 237 u a Suql¯b, see Slav a Sur¯qah b. Abdalrahm¯n, 280 a . a Sur¯qah b. Amr, 280, 469 a S¯ren, son of Phraat IV, listed under u Arsacid S¯ ren u ∗ Anak, 106, 131 Ardash¯ 50 ır, Gondofarr, 504 Gur¯zih, 60 a K¯rd¯r, son of Mihr Narseh, 61 a a Kalb¯y, 230 u ∗ M¯h¯y, 259–263, 265, 266, 277, a u 292, 469 M¯jusnas, 61 a ∗ Mard¯nsh¯h, 157, 158, 181, 197 a a † in 626 CE, 158, 197 ∗ Mihr Hormozd, 157–159, 173, 501 Mihr Narseh, 60–62, 64–66, 68, 70, 71 Rustaham Surena, 64, 76, 462, 504 Rustam, 117, 118 Zurv¯nd¯d, 61 a a

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PDF.Tarikhema.ir (Historical e-Books)
I NDEX
Surena, Rustaham S¯ ren u S¯rens, 3, 26, 42–44, 49–51, 57, 59–66, u 68, 70, 76, 79, 101, 118, 131, 155–158, 173, 221, 230, 265, 365, 391, 461, 462, 504 Susa, 236–238, 245, 334, 337 Suwayd b. Muqarrin, 178, 192, 253–256, 303, 469 Syria, 4, 20, 40, 141, 143, 144, 168, 172, 199–202, 280, 281, 318 T Tabarist¯n, 5, 6, 20, 22, 39, 40, 47, 72, a . 73, 80, 86, 107, 113, 114, 117, 129, 130, 135–137, 165, 230, 244, 246, 248–250, 252–257, 259–261, 263, 265, 274, 275, 281, 287–300, 302–318, 369, 370, 372–374, 376, 377, 379, 380, 382, 385, 397, 398, 404, 408–410, 414, 440–442, 445, 451, 457, 458, 462, 463, 469, 503 , see also M¯zandar¯n; a a Padhashkhw¯rgar a Tabasayn, 246, 257 . Taghlib, 169, 201, 202 T¯hirids, 272, 454 .a Tahm¯rath, 264 u . T¯liq¯n, 139, 259 .a a Tam¯ 165 ım, Tamm¯ ısha, 114, 311, 374 Tansar, 85–87, 328, 332, 338 , see also Letter of Tansar tanut¯r, 140, 154, 174, 506 e T¯q-i Kisr¯, 84 a a . Tar¯n, 128, 390 o Tarsus, 177 tauroctony, 374, 375 Taurus (constellation), 373 T¯w¯s, see Battle of ∼ .a u taxes, 41, 61, 69, 90, 112, 114, 146, 175, 229, 237, 253, 280, 342, 343, 346 b¯j, 79 a khar¯j, 90, 254, 273, 279, 288, 316, a 501, 502 poll ∼, 91, 191, 193, 228, 247, 255, 279, 382, 436, 502 reform, 82, 85, 89, 90, 123, 379, 381 T¯z¯ an (Arabs), 407 a ıy¯ T‘¯odoros e ˙ Rshtuni, 280, 469 prince of Armenia, 176 Thomas of Marga (historian), 175 Tiberius, see Emperor Tiberius Tigris, 199, 203, 389 Tikr¯ 219 ıt, T¯ 163, 387, 402 ır, Tiridates, listed under Arshakuni; Arsacid Tirmidh, 382 T¯ uyih, listed under Ispahbudh¯n ır¯ a T¯ un, see Ctesiphon ısf¯ t¯khm, see agnatic o T¯sar, see Tansar o trade, 5, 88–91, 226, 229, 230, 232, 240, 277, 314, 419, 428, 429, 464 traitor (as topos), 243, 251 Transcaucasia, 149 Transoxiana, 5, 22, 74, 76, 279, 310, 311, 314, 382, 406, 418, 419, 426, 428, 435, 437, 464 Trdat, see Tiridates Arshakuni treasury (as topos) Ab¯ Muslim’s ∼ acquired by u Jawhar, 439 Ab¯ Muslim’s ∼ acquired by u Sunb¯d, 315, 438, 440–442, 444, a 445, 447 Afr¯s¯ ab’s ∼ acquired by a ıy¯ Padhashkhw¯rgar Sh¯h, 408, 410, a a 443, 445 Kh¯q¯n’s ∼ acquired by Bahr¯m-i a a a Ch¯b¯ 410, 442, 445 u ın, Mihr¯n’s ∼ acquired by a Farrukhz¯d, 251 a P¯ uz’s ∼ acquired by Sukhr¯, 79 ır¯ a Smbat Bagratuni’s ∼ acquired by the Arabs, 243 Sunb¯d’s ∼ acquired by Khursh¯ a ıd, 315, 316, 440, 441, 443 Yazdgird III’s ∼ acquired by Farrukhz¯d, 244, 245, 258 a Trogus (historian), 25 True Cross, 176 Tukh¯r, see Varaztirots‘ Bagratuni a tukh¯r, see naxarar or tanut¯r a e

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PDF.Tarikhema.ir (Historical e-Books)
I NDEX
Tukharistan, 139 Tu‘mas, 176 Tun-Huang, 406 T¯r¯ns, 33, 77, 375, 376, 406, 414 ua Turkist¯n, 288, 314, 374 a Turkmenistan, 23 Turks, 92, 139, 270, 400, 405, 407, 408, 410, 421, 428 ¯ Tus . city, 66, 67, 90, 261, 265–267, 269–274, 276, 277, 304, 305, 318, 372, 374, 417, 448, 449, 460, 463 commander of Kai Khusrow, 117 , ∗ Asparapet Ispahbudh¯n a ¯ cousin of Khursh¯ listed under Al-i ıd, J¯m¯sp a a Tustar, 237–240, 245 , see also Battle of ∼ U Ubaydall¯h b. Yaz¯ 309 a ıd, Ubullah, see Battle of ∼; Basra . Ukraine, 299 ulam¯, 324 a Ullays, 190 , see also Battle of ∼ Umar, listed under Caliph Umar b. Nu m¯n, 461 a Umar-i Fann¯q, 309 a Umayyads, see also Caliph, 5, 35, 313, 315, 418, 420, 422, 426, 437, 449, 450, 454, 463 umma, 1, 166, 505, 506 ¯ Ummat al-Rahm¯n, listed under Al-i . a J¯m¯sp a a Urarta, 43 Uruk, 20, 387 Urumiya, 125, 152 Usayyid, 165, 233 Ush¯tar, 412 e Ush¯tar-m¯h, 412 e a Ust¯ds¯ 354, 408, 437 a ıs, Utbah b. Farqad, 279 Utbah b. Ghazw¯n, 168, 190, 193, a 227, 237, 469 Uthm¯n, listed under Caliph a Uyghurs, 406 V Vach¯, king of Albania, 300 e Vahagn, 389, 390 < Av. V@r@TraGna, 362, 390, 411, 432, 440, 459 ∼ and Mihr, 390 ∼ as Bahr¯m, see Bahr¯m a a Vahan, listed under Mamikonean Vahewuni rebellion, 133–134, 301, 302 Vakhtang I Gorgasali, 73 Valakhsh, Vologeses Arsacid Valerian, see Emperor Valerian Vand Om¯ K¯h, 114, 295 ıd u Vand¯d Hormozd, son of Khursh¯ a ıd, ¯ listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a ¯ Vandarand, listed under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a Var¯z, 50 a Ardash¯ ∼, 50 ır Varaztirots‘ J¯v¯ an, listed under a ıt¯ Bagratuni Varena, 370 varj¯vand, see Haft¯nbukht a a Varrames, see Bahr¯m Kan¯rang¯ an a a ıy¯ Varuna, see also Apam Nap¯t, 351, 352, a 354, 357, 499 , variants: Vouruna Ap m Nap¯t a Varazva˜ 349 lan, v¯spuhr¯n, 48, 55, 506 a a v¯stry¯fšuyant, see v¯stry¯sh¯n a o a o a v¯stry¯sh¯n, 47 a o a v¯stry¯sh¯n s¯l¯r, 47, 61, 63, 506 a o a aa Veh Ardash¯ 38, 77, 199, 200, 209, ır, 468, 514 , see also Battle of ∼ Veh-az-Amid-Kav¯d, 209 a Veh˙ot, see Oxus r Vendidad, see Videvd¯d a victory (deity), see Bahr¯m < a Av. V@r@TraGna Videvd¯d, 322, 360, 369 a Vil¯sh, listed under K¯rin a a Vind¯yih, listed under Ispahbudh¯n u a V¯ o R¯m¯ 22 ıs a ın, V¯ asp¯, listed under Kai; ısht¯ a Achaemenid Vist¯hm, listed under Ispahbudh¯n a a Vohu Manah, see Bahman

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PDF.Tarikhema.ir (Historical e-Books)
I NDEX
Vologeses, listed under Arsacid; for Bil¯sh, see under S¯s¯nid a aa Vram, see Bahr¯m a Vrkan, see Gurg¯n a W Wahr¯m Adurm¯h, see seals of ∼ a ¯ a W¯j R¯dh, see Battle of ∼ a u Walajah, see Battle of ∼ W¯qid¯ 235 a ı, Waqq¯s, Sa d b. Ab¯ 185, 226, 231, a. ı, 234, 237, 469 wastr¯-i ush¯n s¯l¯r, see v¯stry¯sh¯n a ¯ a aa a o a s¯l¯r aa wealth (as topos), 227, 238, 251, 280, 314 W¯h-Sh¯buhr, see seals of ∼ e a probably a S¯ren, 156 u Weh-Sh¯p¯r, 332 a u White Forest, 409 Wistakhm, see Vist¯hm Ispahbudh¯n a a wizarishn (Redemption), 339, 506 wuzurg fram¯d¯r, 62, 506 a a wuzurg¯n, 48, 506 a X Xenophon (historian), 358 Xw ad¯y-N¯mag, 2, 4, 7, 9–11, 13–16, a a 22, 23, 34–36, 45, 58, 59, 62, 75, 87, 99, 116, 122, 135, 146, 159, 161, 171, 172, 174, 178, 181, 189, 191, 194, 195, 260, 262, 263, 270, 294, 296, 368, 370, 384, 385, 394, 398, 399, 402, 406, 410, 420, 458–463, 502, 506 Parthian redaction of ∼, 159, 262, 264, 462–463 Y Yam¯mah, 190, 193 a Yarm¯k, see Battle of ∼ u Yasht, 335, 350, 352, 375, 394 Yazd¯n, see ¯ a Izad Gushnasp Mihr¯n a Yazdgird I, II, III, listed under S¯s¯nid aa Yazd¯ 175 ın, Yazdw˘nasp, see ¯ s Izadgushasp Mihr¯n a Yaz¯ b. Muhallab, 310–313 ıd Yaz¯ b. S¯ ah al-Usw¯r¯ 240 ıd ıy¯ a ı, Yemen, 40, 116, 117 Yemo, 325 Y˘zatvšnasp, see ¯ e Izad Gushnasp Mihr¯n a Yima, see Jamsh¯ ıd Z Z¯bulist¯n, 68, 77, 113, 117, 209, 229, a a 277, 278, 295, 385, 408 Z¯d Farrukh, 146–152, 155 a , Farrukh Hormozd or Farrukhz¯d Ispahbudh¯n a a ¯ Z¯m¯sp, see J¯m¯sp under Al-i J¯m¯sp a a a a a a Zames, see J¯m¯sp, brother of a a Khusrow I, under S¯s¯nid aa Zamzam¯ see m¯bad ı, o Zand, 124, 326, 336, 341, 342, 403, 428, 507 Zand i Vahuman Yasn, 405, 409, 411, 446 zand¯ 165, 332, 341, 342, 345, 349, ık, 428, 507 Zar¯dushti, see Mazdak a Zarang, 40 Zardmanos, 300 Z¯rim, 316 a Zarmihr, listed under K¯rin a Zarmihr, commander, 201, 468 † around 630 CE, 201 Zayd b. H¯rithah, 193 a Z¯ 49 ıks, al-Z¯ ı Ab¯ ’l-Farrukh¯n, 248, ınab¯ u a 250–253, 256, 263–265, 278, 293, 303–305, 308, 398, 424, 462 , Farrukhz¯d Ispahbudh¯n a a zindik, zind¯ see zand¯ ıq, ık zinh¯r (refuge), see Mithra a Zoroaster, 322, 339, 342, 350, 357, 385, 403, 406, 412, 428, 501 regional legends of ∼, 321, 322, 369 Zuhrah b. Hawiyah, 226, 227 . Zurv¯n, 339, 340, 366, 507 a Zurvanism, 331, 334, 339, 340, 365, 366, 392 Z¯zan, 427, 435 u

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Decline Fall Sasanian Empire

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